Jesus Is Our Life

JESUS IS OUR LIFE

I was talking with someone a couple of weeks ago and the indirect question was asked, "is Jesus your life or just part of your life"? I thought that was worth pondering. I was talking with another person just recently who was mentioning a video they had watched about how the gospel is presented in America today.

It went after the name it and claim it gospel and the comfortable Christianity approach. It went after giving people the impression that they don't need to be sold out for Jesus and that God's purpose is to make us happy.

This idea of Christianity is not what is seen in other countries; it's not what we see in the bible. The idea that a Christian can have a degree of Christ in his life but still live as he pleases is not only wrong; it's dangerous.

Let's see if we can discover why and how Jesus is our life.

1) Jesus is the author of life.

After Peter healed the crippled beggar in Acts 3, he used it as an opportunity to preach. He tells the crowd in vs. 15, "You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this."

Peter uses an unusual phrase to describe Jesus here, author of life. When we see the word author we think of a writer. What does a writer do? Takes a blank sheet of paper and puts words on them. He starts with nothing and brings something from it; his words gives life to the page. That's what Jesus has done-taken nothing and given it life.

Being the author of life means life originated with Jesus. He was there from the beginning. He created alongside his Father.

John 1:1-4, "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 has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men."

We know John was talking about Jesus because vs. 14 says the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Jesus was there, with the Father in the beginning, taking the blank sheet and spoke things into existence; he took the blank canvas and began to paint. He breathed life into all living things.

It's interesting that Jesus is spoken of as the author and the Word. When a writer writes the words he chooses are reflections of himself. Jesus has done that with us. He has put his very self into us.

Jesus is the author of physical life and spiritual life. The word author is used only two other times in the bible and they're both in Hebrews and they both pertain to Jesus. In Heb. 2:10 Jesus is called the author of our salvation.

Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." His life is our light. Jesus said in John 8:12 that he is the light of the world. When we are born again, that light comes to live inside of us. Jesus has given us new life and with that new life-darkness is replaced with light.

In Heb. 12:2 Jesus is called the author and perfecter of our faith. When a writer writes something, he will go over it again and do a rewrite. He'll look for mistakes and things he wants to change. He edits and polishes-all for the purpose of making the rewrite better than the original. That's what Jesus is doing for us.

Through sin we were rendered imperfect. But then we came to Christ and received new life. Now, Jesus is doing a rewrite on us. He fixes mistakes and edits out what doesn't belong and puts in what does. But, we have to let him use his eraser on us. An eraser is abrasive. So too, the process of removing what doesn't belong in us can be abrasive. But it's necessary if the old "words" are going to be replaced with new and better ones.

In the three verses where we find the word author they all have the same Greek meaning. Two of the words, originator and founder are no surprise, but there were two other words that were quite interesting: leader and ruler. It makes sense though, since as an author, you're in control over what you decide to put down on paper.

Jesus is not only the originator of life but he is also the leader and ruler. I suppose that's why the word authority has the word author in it. So, we allow the author of life to have authority over our lives and do whatever editing he needs to do so the final draft can be a masterpiece.