Jesus Is Lord!

              

"Daddy, that's my Jesus!"

Looking up from my book, I saw a chubby finger pointing to a magnificent picture of Jesus Christ. Every step this preschooler took exuded enthusiasm as she bounded through the parsonage, her finger fastened to the picture in her Egermeier Bible Story book. The Apostle Paul exhibited this same exuberance when he announced “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor. 5:19 NKJV).

Paul revealed the Church’s vision for the centuries with a few strokes of his pen:

 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … Yet in all these things

we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor Powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (RO. 8:35, 37-39 NKJV).

Jesus was born in Bethlehem around 4-6 B.C., during the time that Herod the Great ruled Judea under Caesar Augustus, Emperor of Rome. Jesus’ friends described him as God manifest in the flesh, the very personification of God. And it is true: men did bury Christ in the tomb once, but the tomb was never deep enough to hold him!

When Jesus lifted off from his launch pad on the Mount of Ascension, the clouds lacked sufficient width to include his winding sheet. Even now; the heavens fail to contain him in the life he now lives,  for Jesus  now occupies his church, energizing it with his love while it remains unconsumed. He lives on in the truth’s that reflect his image. He lives on in the hearts of followers whose eyes flame with celestial love and whose efforts are spirits are infused by his Spirit.

The Bible witnesses to this faith. It touches believers of every color, creed, culture, and generation, for whom Jesus truly becomes all things to all men ... as our Lord.

The ARTIST paints him as the one “altogether lovely” Solomon 5:16). The ARCHITECT draws him as the “Chief Corner Stone” (I Peter 2:6); and to the ASTRONOMER finds in him the very “Sun of Righteousness” (Malachi 4:12).

To the BAKER, our Lord becomes the “Living Loaf” (John 6:51); to the BANKER he is the account of “Unsearchable Riches” (Eph. 3:8); to the BIOLOGIST he becomes “The Life” (John 14:6); and to the BUILDER he anchors the “Sure Foundation” (Isa. 28:16; I Cor. 3:11).

To the CARPENTER Jesus is opens as “The Door” (John 10:9). To the EDITOR Jesus offers “Good Tidings of Great Joy” (Luke 2:10); to the EDUCATOR he serves as the “Great Teacher” (John 3:2); whereas he provides the “Light of the World” to the ELECTRICIAN, and the “New and Living Way” to the ENGINEER Hebrews 10:20).

              

To the FARMER Jesus "Sows as the Lord of The Harvest” (Mt. 13:37; Luke 10:2): and to the FLORIST he blooms as the “Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the Valley” (Sol. 2:1). To the GEOLOGIST provides the “Rock of Salvation” (Ps. 89:26; I Cor. 10:4). To the HORTICULURALIST he remains the “True Vine” (John 15:1). To the JEWELER he shines as a “Living Precious Stone” (2 Peter 2:4); to the JURIST he becomes the “Righteous Judge of all men” (2 Tim 4:8; Acts 10:42); and to the JURORS he provides the “Faithful and True Witness (Rev. 3:14).

To the LAWYER Jesus serves as “counselor, Lawgiver, and Advocate” (Isa. 9:6); James 4:12). To the PHILANTHROPIST he offers the “Unspeakable Gift” (2 Cor. 1:4, 30); to the POLICEMAN he holds the “Power of God” (I Cor. 1:24); and to the PREACHER he speaks the Word of God” (John 1:1; Rev. 19:13).

The SCULPTOR finds in Jesus the “Stone cut without hands” (Daniel 2:34, 44-45); the SERVANT finds in Jesus the “Good Master” (Mt. 19:16); the SHEEP-RAISER finds in Jesus the “Good Shepherd” (John 10:11, 14); the STATESMAN finds in Jesus the “Desire of all nations” (Haggai 2:7); and the STUDENT finds in Jesus the “Incarnate Truth” (John 14:6). 

Finally, the THEOLOGIAN finds in Jesus the “Author and finisher of our Faith” (Hebrews 12:3); the LABORER finds in him the “Giver of rest” (Mt. 11:28; but there is yet more, for the SINNER finds in Jesus the “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), and the CHRISTIAN finds in Jesus the “Son of the Living God, the Savior, Redeemer, and Lord of Hope and Glory” (Mt. 16:16; Luke 2:11). 

Such friendships as these caused Saint Patrick to conclude:

               Christ be with me, Christ within me,

               Christ behind me, Christ before me,

               Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

               Christ to comfort me and restore me,

               Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

               Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

               Christ in hearts of all that love me,

               Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

And now I take refuge in him as an old friend, recalling days in my life when

               There, with life at it’s lowest ebb,

                              Who could heal and restore?

               Then He came and mended my broken heart—

                              And gave me something worth living for.

              

The years of growing churches and changing lives came and went while Dale's son Doug played hide-and-seek with the “Hound of Heaven;” i.e., until God caught up with him and gave Douglas Oldham a new song to sing. With a new song there came warm memories flowing through dad’s pen, from pen to paper, revealing what happens when Jesus truly becomes the Lord of our lives:

               “Life was shattered and hope was gone—

                              Crushing, the load that I bore;

               Then out of the depths I cried, ‘O God

                              Give me something worth living for.

               O, the joy of sins forgiven—

                              Nothing’s the same as before

               My life overflows since Jesus came                          

                              And gave me something worth living for.                                                                                   (W. Dale Oldham).

This is Warner's World, walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com affirming that Jesus is Lord!