That great Teacher, who claimed divinity, has set a standard for all to follow. As many consider Jesus of Nazareth, they say that he was just a good teacher with many good thoughts, nothing more. However, his radical statements and his claims postulated can only give him only one of the following three titles. Either he was a liar, a lunatic or Lord. He was either a master at deception, he was crazy because of his statements or else he was who he said he was.
This should give us pause, if he really is who he said he is, God, we must make him our Lord and Master. In other words, his is not just the great teacher, but God, deity incarnate. We need to obey his teachings and follow him.
In a previous post (here) I gave thirteen attributes of Christ that we need to follow. Here are nine more that come to mind when one reads Jesus.
- Clarity – He had clarity, telling use how the world really is.
- Gave a defense with evidence – Being God incarnate, even he did not just expect people to believe with out evidence. He gave it through miracles, Scripture and testimony.
- Interacted with sinners – Not only did he preach the gospel of the kingdom, but he personally interacted with sinners one-on-one. This is a messy job, he preformed masterfully.
- Disciple maker – He was not self-centered focusing on himself only. Nor did he attempt to interact with others for only their salvation, but rather made them disciples.
- His fathers business – His focus was not on an occupation, vacations, clothing, houses or you fill in the blank, but rather his father’s business.
- Children – While some look down on children as being almost of lesser value than adults and in the way, Christ did not agree. He placed high importance on carrying for children. He even used them in his examples and took time to care for and listen to them.
- Wise – His questions and statements were well placed, making people think and helping refocus their concerns. He was always gracious. He was compassionate to the humble but critic to the proud and self-righteous. In other words he showed mercy to the humble but presented the law to the proud.
- Knowledgeable – Christ was full of knowledge. In fact, even at age twelve he amazed the teachers at the temple with his understanding, questions and answers. This attribute did not relinquish with age.
- Bold and confident – Being about his fathers business, he was bold and confident with his message with wisdom and knowledge. Of course he was sagacious, evading those who wanted to persecute or even kill him – that is until his final act. However, through it all, he was confident of the truth and was bold in his presentation.
