How You See Him Matters

Before Paul came to know Jesus, he viewed Him as just a man. But after meeting Him on the Damascus Road, and realizing He was The Lord, he said, “No more!” and glorified Him as God (2 Corinthians 3:16).

How we see Jesus matters. He did not come to earth to be just a good example of human potential. He did not give people the option to see Him as a merely a good teacher or prophet. He said clearly, “If you do not believe that I AM (the Hebrew name for God), you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).  

There’s a misunderstanding of Philippians 2:4-11, causing some to think Jesus “emptied Himself” of His Deity. But Jesus cannot cease to be what He IS.  He did not empty Himself of His Deity or His glory when He came to earth. He veiled it. The context explains what Jesus emptied Himself of… His own personal desires. He would state this truth again before the Cross saying, "Not My will but Thine be done."

As God the Son, Jesus had a holy abhorrence of sin, the right to judge every act of evil, and every right to Heaven’s glory. But He set these aside to “esteem others as more important than Himself,” and in sacrificial love, “made Himself of no reputation and took upon Himself the form of a Servant… and became obedient, even to death of the Cross.” What a Savior!

Jesus never gave humanity the option of seeing Him as less than He is. He said… “All men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. The one who dishonors the Son dishonors the Father who sent Him” (John 5:24). 

A day is coming when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is LORD. Blessed are those who own Him as Lord now.   

(Devotional by Lisa Cataford)