Who is Jesus? #135

Jesus is the "Him" who "fills everything in every way." The NCV puts it this way, "the church is filled with Christ, and Christ fills everything in every way." This sounds fantastic, but I am really baffled by what all this may mean. The Greek word for fullness seems to have a connection to a ship, in particular, all the personnel it takes to adequately staff a ship for it to function properly and efficiently. It also includes cargo and materials that may be on board. With all the people in place and all the stuff stowed away, it is considered full. I think I will stay with this ship metaphor for a while.

O.K., so the most obvious person on a ship is the captain - that's definitely Jesus. He is the one in charge! The boat goes where the captain determines it to go.

Isn't it hard to give up control? In today's world it seems that we want to control every aspect of our lives. We want to be in the captain's chair. I remember seeing movies where the crew on a ship got tired of the captain for one reason or another and threw him overboard in favor of a new person to fill that position.

I don't know about you, but the worst of times in my life have been when I deposed Jesus as the captain and placed myself at the helm. The ship (life) was traveling the path of least resistance - meandering here and there. I hope I learned a twofold lesson. First, I am incapable of filling the role of captain. Second, there is only one who is totally qualified to fill that position in life's ship. Are you full yet?

Blessings,

L.T.

Who is Jesus? #134

I guess Jesus has been something a little different to most everyone. Just which Jesus do you need? Does that need change from time to time? Is there something inherently wrong with the concept of differing views of Jesus? Or, when it comes to Jesus, is it one size fits all.?

Off and on for several years I have been blogging concerning the question, "Who is Jesus?" It's been quite a journey. I have 231 more entries to go.

One person He is for everyone is Savior. Everyone is in need of salvation - you, me, everyone! He is also healer, priest, Lord, teacher, and so much more.

There have been those who have tried to make Jesus into what they wanted/needed Him to be. Some wanted Him to assume the throne is Jerusalem and reign over His kingdom from the earth. Others wanted Him to socialize with the elite of society and were frustrated by His association with sinners, tax collectors, uneducated, and the poor. Some remained interested as long He could continue to amaze them with miracles - an entertainer of sorts, I guess.

My temptation is to berate these people for not understanding who Jesus was and trying to make Him into something He was not. I stop short of the berating and wonder if I/we have not done the same thing from time to time.

I know He is the sin forgiver, but from time to time maybe I expect Him to be the sin over looker - especially mine. I know He is a dispenser of infinite love, but just maybe He could be a love withholder - especially with those that I have trouble loving. I know He is the greatest of teachers, but couldn't He just drop into the teacher's assistant role and let me take over -I know there are those who need His teaching a lot worse than I do and I hope they are listening. I know He wants to be the pilot, but sometimes a co-pilot allows me a little more freedom to be in control - go where I want to go. Shame on me and you for not letting Jesus bloom into the lives of every person in every way with everything that He is.

Who is Jesus? #133

To get an appointment with a dentist takes about a 6 month lead time. My wife has had her share of health issues over the past several years (doing better now). You always have to make an appointment: primary provider, specialists, tests, etc. The only exception is emergencies. Even in those cases, if, in the eyes of the emergency room people, your emergency is not urgent, you can still wait hours before you receive assistance.

When you finally do get in to see the physician, typically you are not the only one in the waiting room. Now multiply that day after day and we are staggered by how many people come to see a particular health care representative - makes individual attention a little difficult.

" I will be with you always, even to the end of the age." How about a physician who will always be there. Have you ever experienced your primary provider moving away or retiring. It will never happen with the great physician.

"Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." There is always room for everyone. There is not even a waiting room, He is available now! Have you ever been bumped because the doctor's schedule was too busy?

How about making an appointment now? He is available and no waiting. Now is the time of salvation. He remains available with no waiting for those times that we need a spiritual check-up.

By the way, the fee has already been paid.

Who is Jesus? #132

How difficult it is to be healed of something you don't know you have - impossible, I would think. Some maladies are found accidentally when a person goes to his or her physician for some other reason. How could a physician possibly cover all the bases - especially those things that are hard to detect? It must be hard to be a great physician.


"You see, at just the right time, when were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly, (Romans 5:6)"

Even when we were powerless, didn't even know what was wrong or what it would take to fix it - even if we didn't want it -Jesus did what was necessary to take care of all of it for everyone. Wouldn't it be great if we could take one pill or have one procedure that would take care of everything that was wrong with us - even those we were not aware of.

The great physician took care of our most severe problem without us even knowing what was wrong, even before we were born.
I think we will talk about making an appointment with this physician next.