Jesus is so sweet! Today He showed me about how he is the light of the world. Then tonight randomly and last minute, I ended up going to look at Christmas lights. While I was driving around, I was thinking about christmas lights and what their purpose is for Christmas. Why are they such a tradition? Why is it such a thing to go drive around neighborhoods admiring christmas lights. Then it dawned on me that these lights represent Jesus, the light of the world! God’s timing really is the best. As I was admiring the beautiful lights I got to reflect on everything Jesus had shown me about himself today, and it gave me such a cool perspective in which to see the lights.

In John 8:12 Jesus tells us “I am the Light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

Here is what I learned about light today in an article from Loyola Press:

• Light helps us see things. Jesus helps us see the truth about God, our life, our origin, and our destiny. That’s one reason Jesus came to earth-to reveal these things to us.
• Light guides as as we travel. Jesus guides us through life until we reach our eternal destination in Heaven.
• Light allows growth and life (like a plant needs light). Jesus brings life to us
• Light warms and comforts. Jesus comforts and calms us
• Light prevents crime. Jesus is good
• Light dispels darkness which represents evil: Jesus pierces the darkness of sin and death and defeats them.
• My favorite image: All the darkness in the world cannot put out a single candle flame. Jesus cannot be overcome by evil. 

There are lots of lights that represent the light of God and the glory of God. But there will come a day where there will be no need for these lights. The day that we see Jesus face to face. My favorite verse that I read today is Revelation 22:5. “And there will no longer be any night, and they will not have need for the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illuminate them; and they will reign forever and ever.” WHAT AN IMAGE. I’m thankful for the light God has given us to point us to him but I really can’t wait to get to see the real light. The glory of God. The light of the world. 

Ecclesiastes 11:7 “Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.”

Today Jesus showed himself to me as the Good Shepherd. Once again, I learned that there is so much more to this character trait than I thought!

I first read Ezekiel 34. Israel had just been brought down and humbled to a new low when their holy city, Jerusalem was destroyed. Israel once again was choosing to turn from God and worship other things besides Him. Israel had rendered herself unclean and defiled the temple and city and land. Israel deserved destruction which came in the form of Jerusalem’s temple burning and the city falling. 

The Israelites had also been exiled and scattered among enemy nations and their leaders (whom are referred to as shepherds) were selfish and were not searching for or taking care of the flock (the people of Israel). Ezekiel 34:2-3 “Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of their flock? You clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock.” 

So the Lord, the good shepherd takes over this is what I love! The rest of Ezekiel 34 is just a prophesy of God’s rescuing and restoring his people and a prophesy for what Jesus would later do for us when he came to earth. Ez 34:10-12 says “I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them. For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them…I will rescue them from all the places they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.” But He doesn’t just stop there with rescuing. He then goes on to say how He will restore his people and bring them back to a place with prosperity. Not because they deserved it, but because God had compassion on them.

He says later in Ezekiel 34 “There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel…I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak…I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing…there will be showers of blessing…the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them…You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign Lord.” What a sweet promise that He makes to the people of Israel and that Jesus fulfills for us when he comes to the Earth to rescue and restore us into a right relationship with God again on the cross and through his resurrection.

In John 10, Jesus talks about how he is the good shepherd. In v. 11 Jesus says “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” v. 3 says “…the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” Shepherds didn’t just call sheep randomly, but only those that belonged to them. And that’s what Jesus does for us! He even calls us by name! I get chills just thinking of Jesus actually calling me by name, and knowing that I’m not random. Jesus wanted me and called me to Him because I belong to Him.

After reading John 10, I began to wonder what it is about the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep that he would lay down his life for them. I learned that the needs of sheep are much greater than other animals because of their instinct to be afraid and when faced with a fearful situation to run. They actually wouldn’t survive without their shepherd. I also learned that a good shepherd doesn’t push his sheep. Instead he simply stands in front of his sheep, gently calls them by name, and leads them to a place where He has already been, positioning himself between danger and the sheep. Jesus doesn’t force us to do anything or go anywhere even though he knows what is best. He just asks us to follow him because he knows where the good pastures are and where the most life giving water is. He also knows where the danger is and where not to lead us. What an amazing shepherd!

Not only does Jesus lead us as sheep, but he invites us into being shepherds of our own flocks! 1 Peter 5: 2-4 says “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them–not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” Jesus invites us to be shepherds of others the way he is our shepherd and lead our sheep to the greatest shepherd of all, Jesus Christ. And when Jesus returns he promises to reward those who have been shepherds under him.

John 10:9-10 “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”

Recently I have been finding myself straying away from Jesus frequently and looking to other things, relationships, accomplishments to satisfy myself. Nothing ever fully satisfies me and makes me keep searching for more. Now I know that Jesus is the only one to satisfy me, and I even find myself feeling convicted when I am running to other things. I tell myself “I need to love Jesus more. I need to put him first. He is the only one to satisfy me.” But I realized I was telling myself these things because I knew they were the right answers or the right things to do, not because I actually wanted to put Jesus first or love him more. I’ve become so numb to who Jesus is that sayings like those are just second nature to me. My heart isn’t really in it.

This whole semester, the cry of my heart has been “Make me believe that you are better.” While I know that Jesus is better, I have been so consumed in other things that my heart is having a hard time believing that Jesus actually IS better than all the things I have been chasing. Therefore, I am dedicating this Christmas break or however long it takes, to relearning who Jesus is. My prayer is that Jesus will allow me to see all that He is, so that I can fall in love with Him again, and love him so much that putting Him first in my life won’t even be hard because I will know and believe that Jesus really is the better than anything else in my life.

So I started today with learning about Jesus being the Son of God. Something I’ve known since I was little, and something I thought I had a pretty good grasp on until today. I wish I could convey everything I learned over the past 3 hours, but I just want to share some of the things that I thought were interesting.

Jesus is the Son of the living God and no one has seen God except the Son and he came to us to make God known. (John 1:18 )

There were others referred to as sons of God in the bible including the chosen people of God, Heavenly beings, Kings and rulers, and godly individuals but Jesus is unique. He is God’s Son eternally, not adopted. He obeys the Father perfectly, not imperfectly. He is an exact representation of His Father (Hebrews 1:1-3). Jesus and the Father share power, knowledge, authority, and glory so there is equality indicating that the two are one.

Something else I learned is how closely Jesus’ sonship is associated with suffering. This excerpt is from one of the articles and is too good to try to paraphrase:

“When Jesus was famished after a long fast, the tempter said to Him: “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread” (Matthew 4:3, etc.). When Jesus was in agony on the cross, the passersby mocked Him and said: “Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:40). These speakers forgot that Jesus is the Son of God. God, who seeks and serves and even suffers to save those whom He loves, the people of the world. He is not the son of some earthly king, who must show his might and save his pride by appearing to be victorious in the eyes of the world, according to the world’s standards. It was just because He is the Son of the God of love that He would not use His power for selfish purposes but perfectly fulfilled the will of His Father, who chose to reveal Himself and His love to all men through His suffering Servant/Son.”

Jesus is the Apostle of God. Many messengers and prophets were sent BY God but Jesus, the Son of God, was sent FROM God Himself and so he is called “Immanuel” meaning God with us. The purpose of the Son being sent by the Father is to reveal Him. Jesus, the Son of God, as God, is the image of the invisible God. Jesus is God revealed to man. Christ Jesus is the image of God to mankind and God revealed himself to mankind in Christ. (try to wrap your mind around that concept…)

Now here is my favorite part of what I learned today. Jesus is also the word of God. The word of God is eternal, even as God is eternal. As he is God’s eternal word, he is God’s eternal Son. Even among humans, through his word, a man makes himself known and brings out what is within Him. And that is exactly what Jesus does. He came to us to make God known to us. He could have just come and died for our sins, but he did so much more for us. He came and taught, worked, preached, healed, loved, showed us how to live life well, and to let us in on who God is, and see the glory of God. To know God better.

Jesus is God but he is not the Father. He is the Son of God. Phil 2:5-8 says “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men:  and being found in fashion as a man He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death on the cross.”

Jesus who had all the qualities of God, humbly emptied himself and became like man for us. To reveal God to us. “The Sonship of Christ is revealed in this: He was revealed as God in the flesh, and yet submitted to God the Father.  He was limited as a man, and He glorified God the Father.”

If you want to look more into this then here are the links that I learned a lot from. The first link showed me a lot of scripture about Jesus being the Son of God and the other two links are articles that helped me understand more.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/parallel/paral19.cfm

http://www.answering-islam.org/Hahn/son.html

http://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/son2.htm