I confess that I’m in awe of Jesus for many reasons. Jesus has inspired the greatest artists in history to paint and compose the drama of his coming. Jesus has empowered the most pens in history: Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Dickens, Milton just to name a few. Jesus has moved more souls to Gospel centered action than any other ever. Harvard, Yale, hundreds of Hospitals, the salvation army, and life forsaking missionaries were all in his name. But there is something deeper…

Who he is

Jesus is the heart of the Bible. He is the second Adam, the crusher of Satan, the promised offspring of Eve and later Abraham. He is the fulfillment of the Mosaic covenant, our prophet, priest, and king. Jesus is the Son of Man, the suffering servant, the promised king of Judah, and the only God-man who alone can take the sins of the world. He is the judge of humanity and cosmic Christ who will make all thing new.

His passion for my heart

What drove Jesus? What was his passion? It is that question that drops me to the my knees. The answer is that Jesus is love. Jesus lived and died for the wretched, rebellious, and the impure. Jesus lived with, ministered, touched, associated, and truly loved unlovable people. When I shine the light of Christ into the dirty chambers of my heart I see with horror my idolatry, pride, sloth, laziness, and lust. His presence shames and condemns me and makes me want him to leave my heart. But that is exactly where he is doing his work. His work is so very painful because he is making me a lover of souls after he own heart. Slowly, graciously, and faithfully God is making me into the image of Jesus. When I think of the contrast of my love with that of Jesus I see afresh the love displayed in both the manger and the cross. I’m in awe of the heart of Jesus!

Our response

So what is our response to this love? The answer is to praise him for his incarnation and cross, and allow God to work the love of Christ in us so that we will care about the heart of God and respond with lives of worship in reaching the lost, restoring injustice, and caring about poverty. But it is the work of God that makes us ask: where is our manger? Where is our Jerusalem? And where is our cross? Jesus is the only one to walk the road to the cross, yet He alone is able to make sinners want to follow the way of the cross and that is worthy of absolute awe and worship.

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