Good morning, Zane.
We’re just about out the door to church. Are you?
I hope you can agree with this devotional conclusion. It’s of huge importance.
Blessings. Love and prayers—Tua/Ray.
It is of supreme importance that we gain an understanding of WHO Jesus is. Of course there are a lot of different views and opinions out there—many of which render Jesus and the Bible with only marginal importance. I, for one, cannot bring myself to believe He is just a great example of piety and moral excellence. He is not just a man who was mightily empowered by God to preach and perform miracles. He is not just the founder of a renowned global religious system. The over-all scriptural revelation leaves only one conclusion for me: HE IS GOD. If you have any doubts whatsoever, I encourage you to study the whole and gather the facts with an attitude of heart that honestly seeks God and His truth. Don’t trust the research and conclusions of others, or even your own independent judgments.
Needless to say, the teachers of the law who were in the presence of Jesus on this particular occasion were wrong in their judgment of Jesus’ true identity, but they were right when they reasoned, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Being only half right made them grossly wrong.
I am quick to confess to a limited understanding of the incarnation—this great display of God becoming man. But that’s okay. Why should I stumble over my finiteness in my fledgling struggle to comprehend infiniteness? After all, I can barely understand how my own finite body can digest the breakfast I just ate. Nor do I have the capacity to comprehend infinity—it’s just too far outside my finite fence. All I can do is accept the adequate evidence that JESUS IS GOD. In so doing, I must also accept the scriptural fact that GOD ALONE can forgive MY sins. I encourage you to read again the prophetic lines of Isaiah 9:6.