Who is Jesus Christ to you?
To many he is just a man who lived more than 2000 years ago, who did and said many good things, then unfortunately was killed on a Roman Cross. To others, he is a fiction character or nothing at all—they probably don’t even think about him unless to use his name as a curse word.
To eleven of his disciples, Jesus was both Savior and Lord. They had been with him during his three-year ministry. Some of them saw him die and be buried. All of them (plus many others) saw him alive again after three days and saw him many times during the following 40 days before he ascended into heaven. Their lives were transformed by Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead. When they had seen Jesus arrested, they were afraid for their lives and scattered and hid, but after his resurrection they were bold in preaching the good news about Jesus, even though they knew it might cost them their lives. In fact, later, most of them did die as martyrs, preferring to die rather than renounce their faith. That is also true of many Christians today.
A man named Saul, a hater of the followers of Jesus who even persecuted and killed them—was transformed after meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus after Jesus had ascended to Heaven. He became the Apostle Paul. Then, because of his love for Jesus and faith in him, Paul endured many trials and persecutions as missionary to nearly all the then-known world, and he wrote many of the books of the New Testament. Luke, the physician who thoroughly investigated all these reports and became convinced they were true, wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts in the Bible. He also considered Jesus Christ to be Savior and Lord, truly God and truly man, alive forevermore.
I often receive mail from several ministries telling of people who have been transformed by Jesus, (The Jesus Film Project, SAT-7, BGEA, Samaritan’s Purse, Wycliffe, One Hope, Jews For Jesus, Chosen People Ministries and others.)
Some of these ministries report that Jesus has appeared to many people through dreams and visions, most notably Muslims in the Middle East and Africa. These make them want to find out who he really is and when they do, they ask him into their lives. Jesus is in the business of transforming hearts, bringing joy and peace to people.
Sooner or later, everyone will make a decision about Jesus. The following poem tells who he is to me:
Son of God, My Savior
You paid the ransom with your blood to set me free.
You welcomed me with open arms and let me be
adopted as your own joint heir,
protected from the devil’s snare,
sheltered from the world’s worst care.
Praise God, you ransomed me.
How could I not receive your love? You rescued me.
Deception’s trap had sucked me in; you salvaged me.
Confusion, loneliness and pride
had tried to drive me from your side.
But in your love I still abide.
By grace, you pardoned me.
Futility would be my lot without your love,
without the constant hope of life with God above.
You turned the light on in my soul.
You cleansed from sin and made me whole.
To love and serve you is my goal;
You liberated me!
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(Thank you, Jesus.) — Judith Vander Wege
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