January 27
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. - Jeremiah 17:7, NKJV
Who is Jesus? He lived two thousand years ago, in an obscure town, in an obscure country, during a relatively dark period in human history that was dominated by the Roman Empire. Yet He stands unequaled and unparalleled in the phenomenal greatness of His life as well as in the stunning impact He has had on history.
As we look back over the past two thousand years, a handful of individuals seem to rise up from our history pages – individuals whose lives or words or accomplishments impacted the entire human race, for good or for bad. Names like Julius Caesar, Martin Luther, Muhammad, Christopher Columbus, Adolf Hitler, Alexander Graham Bell, Jonas Salk, and Mahatma Gandhi come readily to mind. Yet I would heartily agree with Reynolds Price, who in the introduction to his Time magazine cover story on Jesus, wrote, “It would require much exotic calculation . . . to deny that the single most powerful figure – not merely in these two millenniums but in all human history – has been Jesus of Nazareth.” Amen!
From Just Give Me Jesus
