J is for Jesus

is for Jesus.

(If you haven't read H is for Home, you may want to start there - this post will function as a part two.)

I suspect there will be many posts today about Jesus, and rightfully so. There are a million things to say about him, but I'll try and stick to one: this Man-God is what we ache for.

Throughout our lives we will try to fill that certain hole with whatever we can cram into it, and many of us even choose valuable things - like family and the idea of home. That idea is basically peace. We want to be at peace through belonging, security, and happiness. Yet even if we attain a wonderful house-full of family - loving family - that house is still only a house.

If we can't gain a home, a true home, why do we want one?

We want that home, that peace, because it exists. Essentially, we want Jesus - whether or not we acknowledge it, or him.

I have my doubts. Usually they fester in the form of naturalism. This Western brain of mine gets in the way quite a bit when I should be relying on faith. But he always brings me back; I encounter him in the Gospels, and I can't refuse him. And if you don't acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, you should at least check him out in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - even if you have to at first read him as simply a character in a good story...he's the best protagonist I've ever met.

If you can fall in love with David Copperfield, Pip, even Katniss, you can surely let your guard down and fall in love with the Jesus you meet in his story. He's brought me back from the brink several times, especially when Christians are doing their A+ best to shove me off the edge. It's him, only him. Then, somehow, as he fills me with that peace I want so badly to fill with home, I am able to turn and love the unlovable just like he does.

He said, "There is plenty of room for you in my Father's home. If that weren't so, would I have told you that I'm on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I'm on my way to get your room ready, I'll come back and get you so you can live where I live." (The Message)

The home we desire so badly is in his hands, accept it.

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Read more about my theme this April in my intro to the A-Z Blogging Challenge. Or visit the home page here.