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.)
“The unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8) includes sanctification, God’s setting us apart to Himself for our good and His glory. Recently, we have been thinking of what I call preliminary or preparatory sanctification. Even before we are interested in God, He is drawing us (John 6:44; 12:32; 16:13). One way that this drawing is manifested is through Christians who are close to us, especially family members. I think of Paul’s young friend Timothy, whose “unfeigned faith” was influenced by his ”grandmother Lois, and… mother Eunice” (II Timothy 1:5). Most of us had similar influences, although we may not have thought about it much when we were younger. I had numerous folks that were kind to me; it was only as I became older that I realized that many of them were Christians. I think even of people that I did not know personally, like the Reverend J. W. Jepson who died in 1866 at the young age of 27. He is buried in our family cemetery and spent his childhood on the same land that I roamed as a youngster (and still visit daily, for my mother lives there). In fact, the Jepsons settled on the property in 1721 largely for purposes of religious freedom. Clearly, there had to be genuine Christians in multiple generations. Each one had to be prepared by God to receive salvation; then, each one had a part in God’s plan to bring others to salvation. May each one of us thoughtfully consider God’s goodness in placing Christians around us to help draw us to Himself.