GodReflection: A Word We Can Count On—Jesus.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
The goal of my childhood church and my family was to be good people and to get church right. I grew up with Acts and The New Testament Letters. They were the core of my Bible the priority of my church and family.
Sure, I attended Sunday School and learned about the stories from The Old Testament. Still my primary task was to get right what is in God’s Acts and His New Testament Letters.
In retrospect, our interest to get Jesus right, although given a holy shout from time to time, seemed to be a back-burner topic. The truth is that it was wrong to think that we could see The Acts of The Apostles and The New Testament Letters as the Heart of Scripture.
The main character and the principal subject of the entire Bible is Jesus. Nothing in Scripture is of greater importance. Our goal should have been to get Jesus right.
The Bible begins with the introduction of Jesus as a participant in Creation with God. The 39 books of Old Testament Scripture build toward the introduction and mission of Jesus the Son of God. The New Testament opens with The Gospels, the very heart and core of Scripture. The Gospels are no less than The Gospel.
They tell the story of Jesus. They bring good news. The Gospels introduce Jesus as the gift of God to humankind. To know Jesus is to know The Holy. To know the teachings of Jesus is to know the will of Father God-Jesus Son-Holy Spirit.
To follow Jesus’s life is to follow The Holy’s actions as He restores fallen humanity to its previous perfect state. Jesus is the answer to sin that broke the heart of God throughout The Old Testament. Jesus’s birth, life, teachings, claims, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension place him at the heart of Scripture.
Through those generous acts by The Holy, Jesus was gifted to the world to usher in restorative grace. To know Jesus is to return to the likeness of The Holy. By the power that flows from the cross through Jesus our daily walk stands spotless before the eyes of The Holy.
That great gift is A Word We Can Count On—Jesus. It justifies trust in Jesus to lead every decision that we make daily to guide our walk across this life on our contaminated and unrestored earth.
Just as The Old Testament Scripture provides one bookend to The Four Gospels that introduce Jesus, The Acts of the Apostles, and the twenty-one New Testament Letters; The Revelation given by Jesus to The Apostle John supplies the other.
Jesus stands between The Law and The New Testament Letters. The Old Testament and The Law point to Jesus on the cross while and The New Testament Letters point to Jesus in the churches.
If we get Jesus right, then we will get life right. If we get Jesus right, then we will get church on earth right. If we get Jesus right, then we will get our relationships right. If we get Jesus right, then we will get eternity right.
As common, everyday people, with all our wounds and defects, we can learn from The New Testament Letters to see how Jesus live in them. Like the real people who were the subjects of the letters, we too will not get Jesus one hundred percent right. Yet the good news is that Jesus reassures us his perfection cover every failure and imperfection in our lives.
The best news for both you and me who experience what sometimes seems like more than our fair share of blunders and imperfections, is that He wants us to know as we go through the process of learning to be like Jesus, it is all under the canopy of his grace.
The Holy looks through that cover of grace to examine our daily walk. What The Holy sees is Jesus and that we are sheltered within his reflection. So rather than our imperfections; perfection and holiness appear.
Yes, Jesus is A Word We Can Count On.
Dr. Gary J. Sorrells
A GodReflection: A Word We Can Count On—Jesus.
