Why Jesus?

Why Jesus?  What difference does Jesus make?  You can't get away from the centrality of Jesus in the Bible.  I have been studying 1 John recently and while the author discusses many subjects, he never strays from the centrality and significance of Jesus.  

He opens the letter with a prolonged appeal for the historical, physical reality of Jesus.  We have “heard...seen with our eyes...looked upon...touched with our hands."  John has eyewitness testimony that Jesus really lived and walked on the earth.  Yet John also argues that Jesus is more than just an extraordinary person: He was "from the beginning."  He is the "word of life."  He is the Christ, God's anointed one.   Jesus is God incarnate, God among us. 

What does this have to do with us?  How is Jesus relevant to our lives in the 21st century?  As I discussed in a recent post, everybody worships something.  We are worshipers by nature.  In a similar way, I believe that everybody looks to something for salvation, something to justify themselves and make them acceptable to God (even if the God they look to isn't a real god). 

The Bible is clear that salvation is found through Jesus alone.  He is the "way, the truth, and the life."  We can't get to God apart from Jesus.  This is the exclusivity of Christianity.  Christianity is both inclusive and exclusive.  It is inclusive because all are invited, all are welcome.  It is exclusive because there is one way to God and salvation-Jesus Christ.  

We look for salvation and rightness with God in many other ways: religion (what I do for God), morality ("I'm better than you so I must be good enough for God"), spirituality ("I'm in touch with the spiritual world and that's all that matters"), hedonism ("God just wants us to have a good time on earth so I must be in his will"), etc.  But God has provided one way to a right relationship with Himself.  It's not through anything we do but through what Jesus has done.  

He lived the perfect life that we should have lived.  He died the death that we deserved to die.  He rose from the dead and conquered death once for all.  He defeated all the powers of the the devil and darkness.  The life of Jesus as a historical reality makes all the difference in the world.  By faith and trust in Him we have peace with our God and Maker and freedom from guilt and shame.  

We all need salvation.  We all look for salvation in some way.  God provided Jesus to meet our greatest need and our greatest desire.