I think Jesus is my favorite person. Really. I’m not giving you a Sunday School answer. You know, when you were little and no matter what the question was, some kid would inevitably yell out “Jesus!” This time I mean it. And the reason is that I know some really awesome things about Him.

1) Jesus is God. Period. He’s not just a really great teacher or moral example. If you take what He said seriously, either He’s psycho or He’s God. And I think He was telling the truth (and still does!)

2) Jesus always saves the best for last, like the wine at the wedding at Cana (see John 2:1-12). You can count on the fact that no matter what’s going on in your life, if you’ve trusted Jesus for salvation, He’s got some pretty amazing things lined up for you.

3) Jesus wins in the end. Read the Book of Revelation. It’s not even close. Jesus wins by a blowout landslide and we who are with Him get to share in the victory.

4) His arms are long enough to reach you wherever you are and strong enough to keep you safe and secure from anything and anyone who is against you.

5) He is bigger than your politics or religion. Jesus never calls you to a better morality or political platform or religion, but to a relationhip with the Father that surpasses relationship you could ever have and truly fulfills every longing you’ve ever had.

6) Jesus will push away anything that keeps you from God. He called His Church a house of prayer (not of preaching or worship or miracles or anything else) because He wants you to know Him and the Father and have the same joy He has in His Father.

7) Jesus would rather hang out with sinners who are truly sorrowful than the smug self-righeous churchgoers who look down their noses at everybody else and carry picket signs that say who God hates.

8) Jesus is the only way to heaven because only He is good enough to die for His enemies and strong enough to bear all our sins and reach down into hell and pull us out. Nothing and no one else is good or strong enough.

9) Nothing in heaven or earth or even in hell will ever stop Jesus from finding you. Nothing you’ve done or said or nothing that’s been said or done to you will stop Him. No matter what you’ve called yourself or what others have called you, Jesus has a new name for you written on the palms of His hands and He can’t wait to share it with you.

Those are some of what I know to be true about Jesus and if I focus on those things, I always fall more in love with Jesus. I hope you come to fall in love with this Jesus, because He’s fallen in love with you and is crazy about you. May that be the song of your heart, the same song He sings over you in the night while you sleep. May that be your testimony: I am My Beloved’s and He is mine (and He calls me beloved, too!)

Amen and amen.

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