Getting to Know Jesus

I was 21 when I read from the Bible for the first time. Someone had suggested I read the Gospel of John first, but I knew so little about the Bible at the time that I didn’t understand the Gospels were four separate accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry. So I started at what seemed the more logical place, at the beginning of the New Testament, with the Gospel of Matthew.

By the time I got to the Gospel of John, I was fascinated with Jesus. He had the perfect answer to every question and always knew exactly what to do. But more than that, He seemed to understand me and know exactly what I needed. His words were powerful and alive. He was alive! His words reached across nearly 2000 years and touched me in a way I had never experienced before. When I finally came to John 15:15—“I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you”—I felt He was speaking directly to me. Jesus called me His friend! I got so excited I couldn’t sit still. I wanted to tell the whole world.

I had prayed to receive Him as my Savior a few months before, but nothing much changed until I began reading His words with an open, receptive heart. His words were powerful and alive and, best of all, personal. And it got even better. Some time later, I discovered that Jesus still speaks directly and personally to His followers today, just as wonderfully as He spoke to His first disciples.

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Hebrews 4:15 ESV / For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

John 3:16 ESV / For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Luke 2:34 ESV / And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed