He is Life…

Between a lesson taught Sunday… and the reading through of a devotional… I’m reminded more fully… of who He is…

Beginning the lesson with a game of hangman… three words… three gallows… all played at once… the letters start to fly… J… U… S… on and on…

Not one word is complete… and the men hanging from the gallows… are each one eye shy of death…

I remind the youth I’m teaching to remember why we gather…

For months I’ve begun each meeting with them by sharing my goal in teaching… to inspire them to build their own wall of faith… to take responsibility for their relationship with God…

And the silence cracks…

Wall…

Yes…! A word on the board… and a sign they’ve heard something over the weeks I’ve spent with them…

Then… Faith…

Yes…! Another right word… another man saved…

I bless them with a hint on the final word… giving them the letter it starts with… the same as the word… Wall…

Word…

Yes…! Yes…! Yes…!

Wall… Faith… Word…

And we talk about how our wall of faith is built on the Word…

Not only Scripture… but the One born in the manger… the Word made flesh…

And they ask me if I’ve seen what I’ve done…

I confess that I have… but it wasn’t my plan… it was His… which came about in the preparation…

Running my finger under the three words… I say…

Those who do not have a WALL of FAITH built on the WORD are dead…

They saw the three almost hung men… as those who are dead… without faith in the Word…

This my friends… was an encouraging moment…

I shared it with a loved one… and he says… You sound like those preaching fire and brimstone…

I say… No… it’s truth…

But it comes to me later… most don’t get the magnitude of who He is… what we’ve done… or our state apart from Him…

Jesus is not an addition to make life better…

He is Life…

Without Him… we are dead…

There is no life apart from Him…

Without Him… all things lead to death…

But with Him… we begin eternal life… right… now…

With the gift of faith exercised in Him… we move… from death to life…

Consider how you view Him today…

Do you see Him as Life…? or something which is just supposed to add to your life…?

I hope this Christmas season you’ll see Him for who He is… why He came… and all He wants to give you… beginning with LIFE…

“…Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. …”

John 5:24 ESV