BY GREG CRUM

“Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” John 20:27-28

Friends, we’ve made it. It’s Christmastime of the year! For so many, it is the most wonderful time of year—a time of sharing with family and friends and hopefully taking a rest from the normal routines of life in order to recharge. With that said, it’s so very important during this season that we are mindful of its ultimate reason. You and I both know that if we don’t purpose to focus on the purpose, it will get buried under an avalanche of emptiness wrapped up in shiny paper and a big bow. We must remember that Christmas is all about the root of that word, “Christ,” and what better time of year than right now to be thinking about who Jesus really is to us!

For some time now we’ve thought about that very thing in this series of articles. We’ve said that the world has their opinions of Jesus, and religion has painted a certain picture of him, but neither accurately describes him the way Scriptures do. The Bible reveals a Jesus much greater, much more significant, than most have been led to believe. Colossians 1:17 goes so far as to state that he is the very force that holds all of God’s Creation together (by him all things consist). Think about that: no Jesus, no anything! No wonder the Bible declares that in all things he should have “the preeminence.”

So, Jesus should have first place in any and every priority chart in existence, yet we know that’s not the case, not even during this time of year when we are supposed to be celebrating his birth into flesh. This so needs corrected, and I know that it will be eventually. One day he will take his rightful place and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is King of all, but even now we can begin needed course correction in this area by looking at our own lives and moving him forward to his rightful position in our hearts. We can read the Word of God with fresh eyes and open minds and discover for ourselves who the people who walked with him daily believed him to be, and most importantly, who he said himself to be.

Brothers and sisters, we will never be able to enjoy all the benefits Jesus earned for us in this life until we begin to believe in his testimony of who he is. Why? Because Jesus can only be for us who we believe him to be. What? Think about it. If we don’t believe him to be our Savior, though he died for our sins, we can’t enjoy the benefit of that eternal life won. (Romans 10:9-10) So, our personal faith in the revelation of who Jesus really is is vital.

That’s why we’ve been on this journey together these 10 weeks. So far, we’ve seen that he said he was the Resurrection and the Life, and that he was the Way and the Truth. Now, if that was his totality that would be more than enough to earn him first place in the Universe, but I want to tell you, he’s still so much more than even that!

In John 20 we read how Thomas finally realized what Jesus had already revealed to his disciples in John 13:13—that he was Lord. Those that are frequent readers of their Bible know that those aren’t two isolated instances of that declaration. Over and over again throughout the New Testament we see Jesus referred to as “Lord.” In fact, it’s such a common occurrence that over the years we’ve gotten so accustomed to hearing him declared as such, that I believe we have lost the full impact of what it means that he is Lord.

You see, “Lord” isn’t just a name, or even just a title, it’s a function of who Jesus is essentially and a functional aspect of a proper relationship with him. Yes, it’s true that Jesus is our friend. Some would even say he’s like our big brother. There’s truth to both these ideas, but to have a healthy relationship with Jesus we must also understand that he’s our Lord, the one supreme in authority, controller, the one having dominion over. In other words, the one who is in charge of our lives!

Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.