If I were to ask you to tell me what you think when I say Jesus, I’m sure I’d get many different answers. Some would perhaps say: He’s my…
– Friend
– Savior
– Hope of salvation
– Shield
And the list goes on and on. Although I’d agree with those four and probably many more answers, there’s something that I would say about Jesus. He’s my…
HERO
When I first surrendered my life to Jesus many years ago, I made a simple statement. “If you’ll come here for a person like me, then I’ll follow you the rest of my life.”
My statement was straightforward and to the point. I didn’t pray some elaborate prayer; I simply said yes to the Lord Jesus, and I’ve never regretted that decision. I would like to point out something that’ll probably sound controversial, but bear with me. I didn’t repent. At least not in the sense that many of us have when we’ve been “led” to pray by someone else. But I saw the fruit of repentance many times after accepting Jesus. Repentance wasn’t a one-time event, although I did repent and have repented many times for various things.
You see, repentance for me was a process. I was convicted of many things that I’d done or was doing that didn’t honor GOD. Sometimes, he’d break me, and I’d go to a private place and weep before the LORD. Other times, he’d correct me publicly or have me openly apologize to someone. In any case, repentance has been an ongoing process since I started following the Son of GOD, but that wasn’t the case for the Lord Jesus. In fact, Jesus NEVER repented because there was nothing for him to repent of, and that fact alone makes him my HERO, and I’d like to explain it more fully.
You see, I started following Jesus with good intentions. After accepting Christ, I never wanted to sin again. After all, he’d come to me at my absolute lowest and possibly when I was at my lowest moral place. I wanted to please him perfectly. To be honest, I fell in love with Jesus. He’d saved my life.
I was very zealous early on to please GOD, but that didn’t mean I was perfect; far from it. I failed him more times than I’d like to recall in this short letter, but I tried to stay humble and repentant which I believe is a major key to a successful walk with Jesus.
We don’t walk around pretending we’re perfect after accepting the LORD, but we also don’t walk around being content to keep on sinning after he’s saved us. The middle ground is the key. Know that at some point, you’re likely going to fail. Be humble. Accept conviction. Accept correction.
If you’ve never experienced the peace that Jesus will bring into your life, I encourage you to call out to him today. It doesn’t have to be pretty. Just call out to Jesus. Sin separates us from our loving heavenly Father, who desires to reconcile us to Himself through His Son. You don’t have to “get it together” before you come to Jesus. In fact, “getting it together” is the biggest misconception about getting right with Jesus. Just ask him to forgive you, come into your heart, and change your life. Jesus will take care of the rest. Just trust and follow him.
While you and I will have to repent—many times throughout our walk with Jesus—Jesus never needed to repent, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what it is like to be tempted. In fact, Jesus was not only God but human. That information is critical to understanding the following passage better:
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15
He felt our pain, temptations, sorrow, and grief. Jesus knows what it feels like to be you. You can trust him.
By studying the life of Jesus, we can see how he handled:
– friendships
– social standing
– physical aspects of life to include typical human desires like food, entertainment, etc…
– family life i.e., handling being a son and brother
– there were probably times when his human side longed for companionship.
– did he ever want to just not? You know. Not pray. Not study. Not minister. Not fast?
– Ministry
You see, being human is tough. Sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you… Genesis 4:7.
I once said to the Lord, “I’ll die for you.” I heard this in reply, “Not if you won’t live for me.”
It’s hard to imagine, but if we’re unwilling to die to petty things in life that won’t mean anything in eternity, then we’re holding on too tightly to things in this life. The most important thing in this life that you possess is your life. When the breath leaves your body, you’ll leave everything else for others.
I sometimes get so caught up in worldly matters that I neglect what’s really important: my spiritual life, but not Christ. Nope. Jesus never surrendered to his desires. He submitted to the will of the Father perfectly.
Do you know how difficult that must have been? Try it for one day. Put everything else aside and seek the will of GOD for one day, and you’ll likely find that’s the day when everyone needs you, and you’re the only one who can solve their problems. Everything becomes a matter of life and death that day. That’s why Jesus got away. He left and found somewhere private to be alone with GOD and reset, so to speak.
Jesus left behind a living legacy of complete obedience without ever faltering, and the grand test to prove his absolute submission to the will of his Father in Heaven was suffering the cross, where he paid for the sins of humanity.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll discuss the list above. I want us to examine how Jesus handled his friendships, family life, social life, and ministry, among other things.
Until next time,
UMFC
Look for a video on this topic to be released on Saturday, July 13th, 2024, on our YouTube Page, which can be found in the link below.https://youtube.com/@uniformmembersforchrist-um6528?si=wFjAMQncWPEd4L1m