Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
As we have been studying this week, Jesus is a reason to live (Philippians 1:21), enhancing the good things of life (I Timothy 6:17). Furthermore, Jesus helps us to endure the hard things of life. Paul certainly knew great difficulties. He wrote in II Corinthians 4:8-9, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.” We all can relate to Paul’s experience of living as a Christian in an evil world. Yet, he pressed on, giving a compelling motive for his (and our) perseverance in verse 10: “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” Through our continuance in the faith in the midst of travail and tribulation, we are displaying that Jesus is with us and that we are “not destroyed.” His death was not the end, for He is life itself (John 14:6) and enables us to endure the hard things of life. He is a reason to live.