Knowing Jesus

We all know some things about a lot of people but there are few people who we know personally, and know well. Numerous people in our world know about Jesus. He is the baby in a manger in Bethlehem at Christmas. He is the good man who lived a good life a long time ago. He is the man who died on a cross in Jerusalem on Good Friday. Amazingly, some eyewitnesses saw him alive three days after he had been buried in a tomb. Easter is the celebration of this discovery.

In modern times, the name “Jesus” is heard often in the form of swearing. In this form, Jesus is blamed for much and praised for little. His perceived likeness can be seen as a picture in the front of some Bibles, or hanging in a church or in the occasional home. He has followers here and there who talk about him sometimes.

How much do you know about Jesus? The good news of the Bible is that you and your family can not only know some things about Jesus, but you can know him personally. Jesus is a person who is alive today. Jesus is God’s Son. He became a man, born of a virgin, without sin, and then gave himself as a perfect sin-sacrifice for the sin you and I have committed.

People in many parts of the world with little knowledge of God will kill a small animal or bird spilling its blood in an effort to cleanse their dark side and the dark destructive habits that ravage their lives.

Here in the West, we are a little more “sophisticated”. But there is something innate in all of us wanting to be free from, and cleansed from, our past and present dark side wherein we have managed to destroy friendships, and relationships, and marriages, and to some degree, destroy ourselves.

This destructive “stuff” is sin. We are born with it. We will die because of it. Sin will bring eternal ruin upon us if we don’t do something about it. Doing something about it is getting to know Jesus Christ personally.

Jesus is a person; he is God’s Son. He came to earth to live, showing us how God wants us to live, and to die, providing a sin-sacrifice for your sin and my sin. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (The Bible, Romans 3:23).

The wages for sin is death. Jesus paid that wage for your sin and my sin through his death on a cross. When we accept his payment, we will have eternal life with God now and after we die. Jesus did that for us.

We can come into a “knowing relationship” with Jesus when we acknowledge we are sinners who sin, recognize Jesus died for us in our place for our sin and invite him to come into our lives and save us.

Please notice these words from the Bible:

“…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). Jesus shed his blood on the cross on our behalf. His death is the payment that sets us free from the penalty of sin.
“All the prophets testify about him (Jesus) that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:43). To believe in Jesus is to surrender our lives into his hands.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:16-18).
“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified (made right with God), and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:9,10).

If you are sensing an unsettledness or even darkness in your soul, the remedy is knowing Jesus. You can invite him into your life through a simple prayer. If this prayer expresses your thoughts, direct this prayer to Jesus.

Dear Lord Jesus, I know I’m in trouble spiritually. I know I am a sinner. Thank you for dying on the cross in my place for my sin. I turn to you and invite you to come into my life. I want to know you personally. I turn from my sin. Please help me to become the kind of person you want me to be. Amen.

If this was a heartfelt prayer prayed to Jesus, he has heard your prayer and has welcomed you into God’s family. “Yet to all who receive him (Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

[This information was taken from www.willingdon.org. For more information about Knowing Jesus, email the Church Office or call 604-435-5544 ]