The Methodist Church Scartho

Thought for the Week

One of the bedrocks of our Christian faith is that, in one body, Jesus is both fully human and fully divine. The birth of Jesus was just like yours and mine. He came to live on earth, to share and experience all of human life - joys, heartaches, feelings, emotions, anger, hate, pain and even death. There is nothing that you and I go through in this life which Jesus hasn’t gone through himself, making him the perfect friend to help us in our times of need. But one of the names given to Jesus when he came to us was Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us,’ which makes him divine. We worship one God, whom we know in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus is God’s only begotten son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Together, and separately, these three are God, have always been God, and are God forever. “I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. (Revelation 1:8) Jesus always was, always is, always will be - eternal. This is simply too big for our human minds to grasp, though we’re undoubtedly better at it than people who lived centuries ago.  Do we understand this? Definitely not, though one day we shall. Do we believe this? Completely! Whenever in time we live - past, present or future - we can refer to Jesus in the present tense. He IS because he always WAS and always WILL BE, and the love he has for you and me is without measure and without end. It brought him from heaven to earth, to live amongst us, to show us what love really is, and it took him to the cross, to die a dreadful death, so that you and I could have the life his Father always wanted us to have, to spend eternity with him. When Jesus left this earthly life to return to heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit - like Jesus, God himself - to be with us, and to live within all believers. Is Jesus, through the Spirit, your constant companion in life? Is he the one you always turn to for help, guidance, comfort? If not, then turn to him, believe in him, trust in him, have faith in him, open up your heart, your mind, your very soul to him, and be re-born into a new life which stretches beyond death into eternity.