The Name of Jesus

When I was a new believer and the Name of Jesus was upon my lips, tears of gratitude weld up in me. This probably happened for the first year or so of my pilgrimage. Somehow as time marched on my gratitude has waned. However in the past year or so, I have cried out to God, "I believe, help my unbelief" Life has taken some turns and bends that have caused me to doubt however, I continue to rediscover not only my need for gratitude but also my great need for the LORD Jesus Christ to reign and rule in my life.
There are so many things that I have been discovering and praying about these days, yet I have failed to write about them here. Sometimes they end up on an index card or in the margin of a book or even in a hand written journal.
In the last hour of 2012, as the fireworks go off in my neighborhood, I thought it might be a good idea to just post a few thoughts on being grateful for the Life of Jesus Christ. We often talk about being grateful for being forgiven, that our debt for sin has been paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ and it is necessary for our salvation and we failed to talk or write about the Righteous Life that God has provided for us through the Life Jesus led while here on earth.
Jesus walked in perfect obedience to His Father and as my son reminded me today, that Jesus said we are to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect. We say impossible and for us it is definitely impossible, "But with God all things are possible." So we do not only trust that Jesus has paid for our sins, but HE has also lived the Righteous Life that we could never live and has done it for us. This is an incredible MYSTERY. Who can fathom it?!

Walking perfectly with the Father
Jesus
Learning to obey
Obedience meant denying himself.
Leaving his home in glory to have no home here
Being hated
Being thought of as crazy by his earthly family
Serving rather than being served
Loving the unlovable
Touching the untouchable
Communing with His Father in prayer
Raising the dead
Being among the ones he had created
Trusting His Father
Willing to die
Taking Joy in doing the will of His Father
Knowing that he would make all things new.
Being the Beloved of the Father and delighting in making us His beloved brothers and sisters.
Jesus did not make one misstep. He summed up the Will of His Father, which also summed up the Law, by answer the question from the Pharisee, "What is the greatest commandment?" and Jesus answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and the second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself."
It is a short list of Jesus' Righteous Life and I am grateful that it is finished, done for me and Jesus was not "just an example" for me to follow but has done it all for me and for you.
Hoping that this new year will draw ALL closer to the LORD Jesus.