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.)
Jesus is a reason to live, for He enhances the good things of life (I Timothy 6:17) and helps us to endure the hard things (II Corinthians 4:8-10). As always, Jesus does even more: He ensures eternal life. On Tuesday, we looked at the first part of Philippians 1:21, but let us now consider that verse in its entirety: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Paul’s succinct statement here is not morbid. Rather, it is a euphoric utterance of certainty, for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ changes everything now and forever. Our greater appreciation of God’s good gifts points us to the even better things of eternity. Our increased strength to deal with earth’s hardships is driven in part by the surety of an end to these hard things, an end that is the beginning of life everlasting with Jesus in heaven. With Him, all becomes “gain.” Truly Jesus is a reason to live because He guarantees eternal life.