Just Jesus.

I have just returned home from the hospital. No, I didn't get a new part, just needed some maintenance. Now that I am back home again, I’m coming face to face to the reality of what is going on in our world… (you tend to lose track of all things, time included when one is "locked up")

You don’t need some washed up old Pastor telling you that the world is messed up. 

From talk of the Maple Leafs actually being good this year, (I hope not) to Nuclear war from our friends to the south; and even the nasty, terribly wrong, racist fuelled, violence in Charlottesville, it seems that we are once match away from starting a fire than we may not be able to put out. 

Another possible terrorist attack in Burkina Faso’s capital city of Ouagadougou (a place I visited back in 2013. TWC has a few teaching spots in this country)

So, what is the point of this post? 

Well, the point is to remind us that what the world needs, what you and I need, is Jesus. Nothing more. Nothing less. We need Jesus. 

I love these words taken from Isaiah about 400-600 years before Jesus stepped foot on this earth. Please read them slowly and reflect on Jesus. He alone can bring what we need: Salvation. Forgiveness. Truth. Grace. Mercy. Love. Correction. Direction. Himself. 

Read, now, the Word of the Lord:

“See, my servant will prosper; he will be highly exalted.14 But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man. 15 And he will startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence.For they will see what they had not been told; they will understand what they had not heard about. 

53:1- Who has believed our message?

    To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?2  My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.3 He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.4  Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.6  All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.8 Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people.9 He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.11  When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death.He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.” (Is. 52:14-15, 53:1-12, NLT2)

What we need is Jesus. Just Jesus. 

Please take a moment and talk to Jesus right now. For you, on behalf of someone you love, on behalf of someone you might never meet. What we need is Jesus.