Who is Jesus?

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Who is Jesus? That’s a deep question. It’s a polarizing question. Anyone who has ever heard of Jesus has their own ideas and opinions of Him, and in today’s world, you will rise or fall based on your answer to that question. I want to suggest something to you today, something that some of you might consider to be extremely radical, but something that I would encourage you to give a bit of thought to. Here it is:

“The most important thing about you will always be who you say Jesus is.”

You might disagree with that statement, and that’s OK. I have chosen to stake my life on it. And here’s why: John 14:6.

Every year, I ask God to give me a word for that year. It’s a bit of a twist from the tradition of making a New Year’s resolution. Instead, I ask God to frame my new year by Him giving me some direction for it with this one word. This year (2017), God gave me the word “Proclaim.” That’s right, “Proclaim.” So, the stance I’m assuming for this year is to proclaim the Gospel every opportunity I get, through my words, through my actions, through my interactions, through my life—to tell of the good news of Jesus. Naturally, this word’s influence will on more than a few occasions spill over onto the blog. Say “hello” to today’s post.

In our world of complexity, I think we would do ourselves some good to bring back some simplicity, especially as this relates to our spiritual lives. There is so much confusion and differing messages being tossed back and forth about religion, what to believe, in whom to believe, and how to live out that belief that you and I could never catch up if we wanted to (if our goal was to live by the standards of this world, that is).

In an effort to add a bit of simplicity to this conversation, allow me to walk you through John 14:6 in answering our question for today, “Who is Jesus?”

#1—Jesus is the way.

I love the definitive in His words here. Just in case you weren’t aware, John 14:6 are the recorded words of Jesus Himself. He doesn’t say that He is “a” way; He says that He is “the” way. What does this eliminate from the confusion in this conversation? It eliminates the notion that “all roads lead to God” or “there are many good ways that all lead to the same place.” Wrong. There is one way, and His name is Jesus.

#2—Jesus is the truth.

Again, we live in a world that proclaims, “Truth is relative.” In other words, what is true for you is true for you, but not necessarily for me, and that’s OK. We’ve allowed our own human reasoning to become the standard for truth when One already exists: Jesus. We’ve thrown out the idea that there is something called absolute truth, a truth by which we should live our lives, because we don’t want anyone or anything telling us what to do. Lean into His words today in your own search for truth in your life: You need look no further than Jesus Christ. He is the truth.

#3—Jesus is the life.

Not only have I heard it said countless times, but I’ve also foolishly believed it in the past myself that the life of a Christian isn’t nearly as fun. I think what is meant by that way of thinking is that Christianity imposes certain limitations on your life, restrictions, and what’s fun about that? Let me tell you: Freedom is fun. A life lived not bound to anything but Jesus is fun.  A life free from addictions, unforgiveness, and shame is the life worth living. We can exhaust ourselves in the pursuit of every single thing this world has to offer that promises us contentment, happiness, and pleasure, but without Jesus, we will come up empty every single time. Jesus is the life.