This Is Who Jesus Christ Is to Me – An Easter Reflection for All Year

What is it like to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? 

I’m not talking about merely knowing a lot facts about Jesus.

The point of this article is WHO Jesus is to Me, not merely what.

The HOW of Jesus is the Gospel story, but the WHO is the untold reward.

Greater than the gift is the love that gave the gift, but the Giver is greater still.

You can know Jesus, and He abides IN the hearts of all who put their trust in Him.

I will fail to tell all that Jesus is.

But I will make an attempt to share ,as best I can, just who Jesus is to me.

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Jesus Christ is my best thought, my most cherished possession, He is God and man, Savior and Creator, and to know Him more is my greatest ambition.

Oh the height, depth, and breadth of all that Jesus is!

He is the only way , the only truth, the meaning and purpose of life, and the only hope for eternity.

He is the author of the language of the information of life we call DNA, and the undesigned-Designer, eternal and ever-existing, who orchestrated the fine-tuned Big Bang so that our universe could sustain life.

He is the wonder in nature and science, each reflecting His infinite beauty, order, and intelligibility.

His courage to face a grievous death and torture was driven by a boundless love for everyone.
He endured rejection so we could be accepted.

He has borne our shame and by His stripes we are healed.

He died so we could live.

He defeated death for us and rose from the grave victorious.

He hears our most distant thoughts and our most earnest prayers.

He longs for us to know and love Him with all our heart, mind, and strength and all that is in us.

Christ’s love is stronger than sin and death, and mightier than any bonds known to ensnare the hearts and minds of mankind.

Only Christ’s Spirit and love can evoke love so strong in the hearts of sinners that it burns away all other passions.

Jesus is hope when all else is hopeless.  He is love when all around us is hate.  He is the reason to live when faith in all else is gone.

Nothing can drive Him away from any who truly trust Him.
He will never leave us or forsake us.

No desire, temptation, or affection can compare to knowing Christ; and anyone who truly knows Him would never choose to leave His presence – for nothing else compares to knowing Jesus Christ who is God and who is Love.

Though I walk through the Valley Of The Shadow Of Death I will fear no evil, for He is with me.

He so loved us that He came down from His glorious throne and became one of us.
He left majesty to live in humility.

 He humbly worked as one of us with the same hands that formed the universe,

all to save us, even before we knew Him.

He is all powerful, yet for the joy before Him, He endured death on a cross for those who loved Him and those who hated Him.

After three days He opened the tomb they laid Him in and rose from death.
Even now He opens His arms to beckon to all who labor and are heavy laden to give us life and rest.

My heart is bound and accountable to Christ’s heart who gave His blood to cleanse my soul of sin.

Duty as motivation is not worthy of comparison to the intimate resolve to love Christ.
Christ’s love, when realized, goes beyond motivation, discipline, and dedication.

Christ’s love is limitless and the one who knows such love is confident in trials and courageous in tribulation.

The human mind may seek in vain to grasp the full scope of God’s love, but we should continually endeavor to do so.

Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, and everything in between.

His promises are sure and are anchored in His great love, which He publicly demonstrated on the cross for you and me.

And, believe me, when I say this; words can’t even begin to express to others this inexpressible love Christ is in the hearts of those who know Him.

Jesus is the Most Sacred Flame, the Light of the World, inextinguishable and inexhaustible, burning in the hearts of all who trust Him as Savior.

The totality of who Jesus is to all who know Him cannot be fully expressed because He transcends measure, time, and space.

He alone is worthy of our eternal praise.

 

Did Not Our Hearts Burn Within Us as He Opened The Scipture? – He is Risen! – Easter Morning Celebration

The Meeting, by Lelio Orsi, 1560-65 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 
As a Christian, I understand what the question proposed in this passage means.
When you know Jesus and you encounter Him, you experience a love that only He generates in your heart.

Luke 24:13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 24:14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 24:15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 24:16 but they were kept from recognizing him. 24:17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. 24:18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 24:19 “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 24:20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 24:21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 24:22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 24:23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24:24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.” 24:25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 24:26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. 24:28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 24:29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. 24:30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 24:31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 24:32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” 24:33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 24:34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 24:35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples 24:36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 24:37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 24:38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 24:39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” 24:40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 24:41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 24:42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 24:43 and he took it and ate it in their presence. 24:44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 24:45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 24:46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 24:47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 24:48 You are witnesses of these things. 24:49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Good Friday-Pslam 22-The First Person Prophetic Account of Christ’s Suffering For Us On The Cross

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 

   Why are you so far from saving me, 
   so far from the words of my groaning? 
 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, 
   by night, and am not silent.

 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; 
   you are the praise of Israel.
In you our fathers put their trust; 
   they trusted and you delivered them. 
They cried to you and were saved; 
   in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

 But I am a worm and not a man, 
   scorned by men and despised by the people. 
 All who see me mock me; 
   they hurl insults, shaking their heads: 
 “He trusts in the LORD; 
   let the LORD rescue him. 
Let him deliver him, 
   since he delights in him.”

 Yet you brought me out of the womb; 
   you made me trust in you 
   even at my mother’s breast. 
 From birth I was cast upon you; 
   from my mother’s womb you have been my God. 
 Do not be far from me, 
   for trouble is near 
   and there is no one to help.

 Many bulls surround me; 
   strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. 
 Roaring lions tearing their prey 
   open their mouths wide against me. 
 I am poured out like water, 
   and all my bones are out of joint. 
My heart has turned to wax; 
   it has melted away within me. 
 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, 
   and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; 
   you lay me in the dust of death. 
Dogs have surrounded me; 
   a band of evil men has encircled me, 
   they have pierced my hands and my feet. 
 I can count all my bones; 
   people stare and gloat over me. 
 They divide my garments among them 
   and cast lots for my clothing.

 But you, O LORD, be not far off; 
   O my Strength, come quickly to help me. 
 Deliver my life from the sword, 
   my precious life from the power of the dogs. 
 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; 
   save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

 I will declare your name to my brothers; 
   in the congregation I will praise you. 
 You who fear the LORD, praise him! 
   All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! 
   Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! 
 For he has not despised or disdained 
   the suffering of the afflicted one; 
he has not hidden his face from him 
   but has listened to his cry for help.

 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; 
   before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows. 
 The poor will eat and be satisfied; 
   they who seek the LORD will praise him— 
   may your hearts live forever! 
 All the ends of the earth 
   will remember and turn to the LORD, 
and all the families of the nations 
   will bow down before him, 
 for dominion belongs to the LORD 
   and he rules over the nations.

All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; 
   all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— 
   those who cannot keep themselves alive. 
 Posterity will serve him; 
   future generations will be told about the Lord. 
They will proclaim his righteousness 
   to a people yet unborn— 
   for he has done it.

Our First Love -God – Whom We All Remember Though We Never Knew Him

“I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”

Bono-U2

“Our longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we now feel cut off , to be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside, is no mere neurotic fancy, but the truest index of our real situation.”

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”

C.S.Lewis

God-Our First Love.

Mankind was created by God for fellowship with Him and only a relationship with God will complete us.

We were created in the image of God, and we have a part of us that remains un-satiated by anything but God.

Our problem was that God’s perfection is called Holiness, and His Holiness requires holiness from us as a condition to be in His presence.

But all men were imperfect and none could save us, until God came down and inhabited flesh and bone to live a perfect life and be our Savior.

So God came to personally came to make a way for us back to Him, through His sacrifice for our sins.

And three days after allowing His crucifixion , Christ rose from the died and defeated death to show that He can give life to as many as receive Him.

Our ultimate hope can be fulfilled in a promise that cannot be broken , lost or taken away ;God.

God initiated this event because He loved us.

God offers eternal life as a gift because we could not be the perfect sacrifice.

You need only receive it by faith, just ask with your heart and believe.

 “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, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9,10)

Christians and seekers take note at what God’s word says,“believe in your heart,” and , ‘It is with your heart that you believe and are justified.”

It all starts with the heart.

But don’t make the mistake that after that the honeymoon is over.

The fact is that you can know God’s love in an ever-increasing way for the rest of your life.

He is our first love who reunited us to himself by the single most incredible sacrifice in all of history; One man died for all the world.

The God who became fully man while remaining fully God ,(Nothing is too hard for God).

God’s has always love us and desired for us to know Him. 

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”(Deuteronomy 6:4,5)

Then God gave us the ultimate reason to love Him with all our heart, mind and strength.

He became one of us and sacrificed Himself for us, releasing us from eternal death and separation from Him.

 “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.” John 3:16

You can know Him, Just pray to Him to save you and to live in your heart as the scripture says, “with the heart you believe and are justified.”

Christ is our first love.

We really were made for each other.