Preparing for Advent – Why Does Jesus Matter?

Greetings Dear Reader,

Please remember that as I ponder these things I am not creating a theology lesson for others.  I ask these questions to order my thinking and ensure that I am considering all that Christ is in my journey.

Jesus matters to me because I believe that he truly is the incarnate Son of God.  I believe that the incarnation of Christ is the beginning of the series of events on the human level that changes everything.  It is more than that though. 

Christ is who I am called to follow.  His words and examples are to be my guideposts along the journey.  He is my fellow traveler and my destination.  Please understand that my beliefs about who Jesus is are very conservative.  I also believe that people who call themselves conservative to not listen to all that Jesus says about who we should be as his followers.

Jesus matters because all of history turns on his actions.  There is a reason that during the Christian era things were marked BC and AD.  From the incarnation until the resurrection there is a time where God became like us to better prove to us that we can live a life committed to what is right and good.

I also think that I did not begin to truly understand why Jesus mattered until I left behind the trappings that the Church has placed around him.  When we try to codify following Christ we abandon the ”who” of Christ and cling only to the “what.”   God did not spill his blood to establish a list of “what’s”.  He allowed the harm to establish a redemptive relationship.

I must constantly involve my thoughts and actions in who Christ is.  I must follow him and not a proscribed practice.  I must be sure that it is Jesus that matters and not a box a group of people have tried to put him in for their own reasons.  It is Jesus that matters.

In Christ Alone – Stuart Townend

In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song;

this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,

firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My Comforter, my All in All,

here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh

Fullness of God in helpless babe!

This gift of love and righteousness

Scorned by the ones he came to save:

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied -

For every sin on Him was laid;

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay

Light of the world by darkness slain:

Then bursting forth in glorious Day

Up from the grave he rose again!

And as He stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,

For I am His and He is mine -

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,

This is the power of Christ in me;

From life's first cry to final breath.

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand;

Till He returns or calls me home,

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."