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.)
For the last two weeks, we have been contemplating the fact that Jesus is the winner in both the broadest and narrowest senses of the word, for He is in control of all things and of each individual. He has “washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Revelation 1:5), releasing us from bondage and giving us “life eternal” (Matthew 25:46). In John 8:36, Jesus said, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” – free to make good choices, to “have life and…have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). In Matthew 7:13-14, He defined this abundant life in an unusual and unexpected manner: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Here, we see that our free, abundant life is one that is guarded from the destruction that evil inevitably causes. If you have been afflicted by an addiction or know someone who has suffered that enslavement, you know that the protected path is the good one, the blessed one. “Narrow” with Jesus is thus wide, everlastingly wide, for we are released from the eternal prison of our own making – released, never to return. Because our Savior is the winner, we can be certain that we are on the winning side.