Why do I need Jesus?

by Stan Coots

Before that question can be answered we first have to know who Jesus is. The obvious answer is "He is the son of God", but WHO Jesus is goes much further than that. In the Gospel of John, chapter 1 verses 1-14, we see that: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that had been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him, all men might believe. He himself was not the Light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all that received Him, to those that believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh, and made His dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NIV)

The above passage tells us a lot about Jesus:

  1. He existed in the beginning.
  2. He was with God, and He was God (thus showing two parts of the triune God).
  3. He did the actual creating in Genesis.
  4. He had life in Him, and imparted it to man.
  5. He was in the world, but the world didn't know him.
  6. He gave power to those who received him.
  7. He was made flesh and dwelt among us, (being tempted in every way we are, and feeling everything we feel, yet without sin).
  8. He is full of grace and truth.

These are by no means the only things these verses tell us about Jesus, but they are enough to show us Jesus, is not limited to the accounts in the gospels. they show us that everything exists by and for Him.

Now let's look at the word "need". Webster defines the word "need" as: The lack of something desirable, useful, or necessary. Once these are fulfilled the need doesn't exist anymore, and we move on to something else. So a better question would be: "What is the relationship between Jesus and I?"

Did you ever wonder why God created man and the universe? The answer is really quite simple. God not only loves, but He is love. I'm not talking about love the way we think of it, but the unconditional love that only God has. He created us so that He would have something to direct His love, thus Himself to. He also created us with a free will so we can choose to love Him back. That's it, that's the bottom line, the reason for everything, so God would have somebody to love, and that we would choose to love Him back. I told you it was simple. Why do we make it so complicated?

What about Jesus, the man? Why did He have to set His deity aside and come to earth as a man? Well, it goes back to free will. We choose to be subject to satan, who perverted the very wants and desires that God gave us into instruments of our own destruction.

God loved us so much He sent His son to earth (physical realm where we exist) to make a Way for us to get back to Him. Man gave satan control over himself and the earth (Mat. 4:9) so Jesus had to come here to get it back for us. He had to come to earth and live as a man, to experience the same temptations, the same desires, the same emotions, the very curse that man brought upon himself and do it without giving in to sin. Then he had to allow Himself to be sacrificed for the very sins He didn't commit. After His death on the cross, He descended into hell itself and took satan's authority away. but that wasn't enough, He had to be raised from the dead to defeat death. In doing so He made a way for us to have eternal life.

Now we can exercise that free will, and choose to believe in Jesus, and what He did for us, choose to love God back, and in doing so not only have eternal life with Him, but also live a victorius life here, in this world. Because while on earth He also gave us an example of how to live and love. He gave us back authority over powers of darkness. He suffered the punishment for our sins, so we don't have to. He took the stripes on His back so that we could be healed. He became the curse so that we don't have to live under it anymore. He became poor so that we could become properous. After all of that He ascended to be seated at His right hand of the Father so that He could be our advocate. When He got to heaven, He sent His Holy Spirit to comfort, teach and empower us.

So you see it's not a matter of me needing Jesus. It's a matter of me choosing to love Jesus, because He chose to love me first and unconditionally.

Someday we will either die or Jesus will come back for His bride (we believers) and when those things happen it will be too late to choose. So, I pray that you exercise your free will and choose to love God back by believing in His Son. AMEN

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