The name of Jesus represents many things to people. In my youth, “Jesus” and going to church were synonymous. People called it the house of the Lord, so I thought that’s where He lived. To others He is associated with words like, morality, spirituality, religion, and social welfare, but not usually with words like vibrancy, vitality and vivacity.
Jesus is used to that. He arrived as a baby with no fanfare. He grew up in a place that was both obscure and scoffed at. He was rejected by the religious establishment and ultimately died an ignominious death. Yes, in between He performed astonishing miracles, but miracles have a very brief shelf life. Nothing external can sustain a hungry soul. The purpose of Jesus’ miracles was to persuade people that He was the One who could give them what they were truly thirsty for – the fullness of His life within them. That is why Jesus said, “Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (John 7:38).
To the natural eye, Jesus has always been a rather ordinary looking door. But whenever someone dares to open that door by faith, they discover He is the entranceway of a life and a world of wonder. No one can adequately explain or describe that world to anyone else. No one can take pictures of it and post them online or put them in a travel magazine. Nor can anyone open the door for someone else. No, to experience the hidden treasure of the life Jesus offers, every person must personally reach out by faith to Him. When I did so, I discovered He was and continues to be unfathomably more I could have ever imagined.
Leave a Reply