By Pastor Teresa Wynn
Macksville Grace Church
Trousdate Community Church

History is jam packed with figures of men and women who were superstars. They were men and women who for various reasons rose to extraordinary prominence in the public eye. There are men and women who rose to leadership positions in government, dictators, the Caesars, others like sports figures and musicians who achieve fame based on their remarkable ability and that certain kind of charisma that simply is attractive.

In some instances these leaders hold themselves up to the level of deity. Regardless of how great any of these folks are, they do not rise to the level of grandeur and majesty of the man who was born in a town called Bethlehem a little over two thousand years ago. This same man we call Jesus lived a life of a mere thirty-three years, during which he made astounding statements about himself, about the condition of humanity and his relationship with God the Father. What is written of Jesus is extraordinary, he made the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk. He forgave sins and was brutally executed. Then, he rose bodily three days later, and soon after that ascended into heaven.

I have discovered that it is a good thing to remind myself ever so often just how amazing the only begotten Son of God is. One of the passages in Scripture which allows me to sit up and exclaim “Wow!” is Colossians 1:15-20. It opens with this statement “He is the image of the invisible God,” Jesus is the every essence of God, in the flesh. John the gospeler writes, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.” and the writer of Hebrews says of Jesus “he is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” Not a single one of the writers of the New Testament spoke of Jesus in terms less than awe inspired. Paul also wrote in that same passage “and through him to reconcile himself to all things … making peace with his blood on the cross.”

It is true, there have been great men and women who have paraded across the pages of history. But not a single one has cut the figure that Jesus has, no one before Jesus, no one after has ever risen to his stature, grandeur, majesty. No one has attained the accomplishment he has. My aim is to remind myself frequently of who Jesus truly is. Perhaps you could practice a similar aim throughout this year.