Why Is It Important to Know Jesus?
Today, our culture adds new definitions to the dictionary almost daily. I've noticed that Jesus has been defined in many ways by different churches, which is a disservice to all of humanity. If we believe in or follow the wrong Jesus, it will end in our demise, so it's essential to know who Jesus truly is!
"The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands. And anyone who believes in God's Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn't obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God's angry judgment." John 3:35-36, NLT
In the Gospel of John, we see that our very souls depend on believing in and obeying Jesus. If we don't believe in the Jesus of the Bible, then we don't believe in Jesus, and if we don't believe in Jesus, we will remain under God's angry judgment. In other words, we will spend eternity separated from His love, mercy, peace, hope, and justice. It's not a place I want to live.
Without Jesus, we are doomed to destruction. Evidence supports this over the entire Bible, God's Word. No one can come to the Father but through Him (John 14:6).
Anyone who believes they don't need Jesus lives in the worst place imaginable. More accurately, anyone who believes they don't need Jesus doesn't live at all. Jesus is life! Without Him, we walk in darkness. We walk in our own deceptions, and our life amounts to a pile of rubbish when all is said and done. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm only the messenger. This promise of destruction comes from God.
Isaiah 64:6 says, “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.” In the New Testament, Paul says, “And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.” Both of these verses show us that apart from Jesus, we can do nothing of any good. I know people don’t like to hear that, but it’s true because God says so, and His Word will never fail.
In Christ, we can do amazing things! “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father” (John 14:12-16). Jesus promises that we can do even greater things than He did while on this earth, but it’s only through His power and His will.
Who Is Jesus?
"In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it." John 1:1-5
Guess who the Word is? It's Jesus! Jesus was with God at the beginning of creation. Everything was created through Jesus! We exist because of Jesus. Not only did He die to save us and pay for all sin for all eternity, but He created our very existence! He and the Father are one! And as we see in the Scripture above, nothing can extinguish Him. There is no higher power in the universe than Jesus.
The most powerful people in the world, Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, and the Kardashians (and whomever you admire) don't hold a candle to Jesus. People may misuse His name and spread lies about Him or mock Him, but make no mistake; it doesn't weaken or change Him one tiny bit.
Some men want to be women. Some women want to be men and demand that you call them by their preferred pronoun, but that doesn't change who God says they are. Nothing changes God, nothing.
And when this world finally ends, God's Word will still stand. Everything else will pass away, but the Word of the Lord will never pass away. (Matthew 24:35). And remember, the Word is Jesus! So, if we want to know Jesus so that we can live and not perish, we need to read the Bible, God's Word, because that's who Jesus is. Only if we know Him, believe in Him, and obey Him are we saved from God's judgment. (John 3:35-36).
Trust me, you don't want to experience God's judgment. If you aren't familiar with it, feel free to read any book in the Old Testament, and you'll see it. If I were to suggest just one, I'd go with the book of Isaiah.
Jesus is the light and the life we all can live in. As mentioned before, without Jesus, we walk in the dark. People live only in lies in the dark because no truth lives in the dark. Truth is found only in the light. It’s very common to hear phrases like “my truth,” and “their truth,” but there’s only one truth, Jesus. And there’s only one Jesus! He’s alive and well, living in and through us and confirmed by His Word, the Bible.
If you believe Jesus accepts sin, then you don’t know the right one. He will accept any sinner who comes to Him with a repentant heart, but He has never accepted or tolerated sin. There are many lies I’ve heard about Jesus, but this lie seems to be at the root of all the other lies.
How Can We Know Him?
Jesus won’t hide from you. If you seek Him, you’ll find Him if you seek with all your heart. God promises this in Jeremiah 29:13-14: “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the LORD.” Seeking Jesus sounds simple enough, and it is. However, most humans desire to seek their heart instead of the heart of their Creator and His ways, so a sincere heart is essential to find Jesus.
We also must desire to know the truth. God/Jesus/Holy Spirit can only be found when the truth is our foundation. The truth is God’s Word, the Bible. If we seek Jesus without the foundation of truth as our guide, we will only find one if not many false gods.
We must come to accept the fact that we are sinners in need of a Savior. Without that realization, there’s no urgency to know Jesus. Only when we accept that we will always fall short of the glory of God does Jesus become magnified and worthy of praise. It is only through Jesus that we live now and forever. If we spend our lives avoiding Him or being careless about who He truly is, we only have death to wait for.
Jesus tells us in John 4:23 that true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. It’s essential that we are disciplined enough to know the true Jesus. He also warns us that we must test the spirits because there will be many false teachings and prophets. That’s what I’m inviting you to do today. The spirits can be tested with discernment from the Holy Spirit. But you will only know the Spirit’s voice if you live by the foundation of Truth, God’s Word.
If you love Jesus, please read your Bible and make sure you know Him correctly. Your soul depends on it.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Javier Art Photography
Vanessa Luu is a wife, mother, and faith-based writer. She speaks and writes to believers to encourage them to live authentically with God.
