Here are my thoughts.
Jesus is....
- The Word
- He speaks
- He communicates
- He relates
- He engages
- God
- He is powerful
- He is sovereign
- He is outside of time and space
- Life
- He creates
- He breathes life and vitality
- He is infinitely creative
- Light
- He shines in the darkness
- He overcomes the darkness
- Child-maker
- He gives people the right to be children of God
- He gives this right despite birth, breeding, rank, background, law
- Flesh
- He became flesh
- He chose to become flesh
- He lived among us, with us
- Full of Grace
- He shows God's glory
- He is full of grace and truth
- He gives grace that covers over the grace given with the law
- One and Only Son
- He is God
- He communes with God
- He is in closest relationship with the Father
- He makes the Father known
Because he is the Word, I can trust that he will speak to me. He will relate to me. He will engage me.
Because he is God, I can believe that he knows and has complete control and authority over my life. He can handle my problems and anxieties. He can handle my problems. He holds my future. He can and will bring about his will in my life. I can also trust that he will show great creativity in my life.
Because he is life, I can trust that he will speak life and vitality into my life. He will breathe the breath of God in my heart and life. Through him, I can truly live the life that is truly life. I am his well-watered garden. He will care for me as a gardener prunes and waters his vines.
Because he is the light, I can believe that he can and will defeat the darkness inside me and around me. HE will shine into the darkness that surrounds me and he will overcome it.
Because he is the child-maker, I can believe that I am God's child. He loves me. He will protect me. He is for me and he is on my side. I can believe that I don't have to be born into the right family, marry into the right family, or buy my way into the right family. I already belong to God's family.
Because he became flesh, I can trust that he can relate to me. He is near. He sees where I live; he lives where I live. He is with me. He also can show me God's glory. Like Moses' face shone, so Jesus' face shines with the glory of God. I don't have to hide from it. I too, through Jesus, can partake in a shiny face. I can experience God's glory. I can praise God for his glory without inhibition.
Because he is full of grace and truth, I can believe that God will show me grace when I sin, fail, rebel, mess up. He is full of loving-kindness. I can believe he will restore, redeem, repair, refresh. He won't just expunge my sin, he will cover it over with his grace and truth.
Because he is God's only Son, I can believe that he will show me how to relate to God. I was going to say that he would show me how to please God, but actually he shows me that because of him, I already do please God. God's One and Only Son pleads for me. God is pleased with me because he is pleased with him.
So where the rubber meets the road...
- Jesus is the Word, so I know he will speak to me. He will tell me things to pray for those I love. He will show me what he wants me to do, where he wants me to go. He will tell me things about himself my heart so longs to hear. I need to listen expectantly for his word.
- Jesus is God. I am not. I need to relinquish my need for control. I need to surrender to the Almighty. I need to obey. I need to trust him.
- Jesus is life. I can't settle for mediocrity or subsistence. This half-life I have been pursuing has left me void. I need to eat and drink of him. I need to find in him my refreshment and satisfaction.
- Jesus is light. Anxiety oppresses me. I need to believe that Jesus is big enough to overcome the dark moods that come over me. He is able to overcome the darkness around me. He will shine through me and in me.
- Jesus is the child-maker. I am God's child. I can't look for acceptance from people. I can't allow the insecurities of people-please to control me. I can't find my identity in what I look like or how people perceive me. I need to trust that I am loved and accepted by the Creator of the Universe, my dad.
- Jesus became flesh. He understands my desire to overeat, my compulsion, my obsession. I have to believe that Jesus is with me.
- Jesus is full of grace. He does forgive. The law, the first grace, shows me my deficit. Jesus, the second full grace, shows me Gods fullness. I have to believe that his love covers over my failures, my sins, my inadequacies, my insecurities, my deficiencies, my weakness. He covers all of it with full grace. I need to stop covering them up myself, I am not very good at it. I don't have to have it all together. I am a sinner in need of grace. I have to stop pretending I am better than I am.
- Jesus is God's Son. I have to believe he will show me the Father. I can know the Father, which is what my heart so desperately wants.
Because Jesus is the word, I am spoken to.
Because Jesus is God, I am taken care of.
Because Jesus is life, I have true life.
Because Jesus is the light, I don't have to fear darkness.
Because Jesus is the child-maker, I am God's child.
Because Jesus became flesh, I am not alone.
Because Jesus is full of grace, I am forgiven.
Because Jesus is God's Son, I am accepted.
