Thursday – August 26, 2021

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, as our “Everlasting Father” (Isaiah 9:6), always leads us in the right direction. I think of my own father, who employed a variety of sayings that were always wise and often humorous. He taught me to avoid conflict: “I’d rather they say, ‘There he goes’ than, ‘There he lies.’” When know-it-alls would criticize, he would simply state, “The only people who don’t make mistakes are people who don’t do anything.” Of pompous people, he would succinctly say, “Big I, little you.” All of his pithy proverbs pointed to the right way to live. How much more does Jesus steer us down – or should I say up? – the right path! For example, when He called the fishermen Andrew and Peter to discipleship in Matthew 4:19, He said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus used language that they could understand and provided a specific course of action. Likewise, He gives us specific directions leading us in a specific direction – toward Him.