When it comes to Jesus, people recognize Him for a lot of different reasons. Some basically acknowledge Him from philosophical, practical, and personal standpoints.
For the philosophical, Jesus meets their quest for meaning; He reciprocates their search for reason. For the practical, Jesus compensates for their demand for an alternative; He is a convenient go-to-guy when worse comes to worst. Yet for those who respond to Jesus, by faith, on a personal basis, to them He reveals Himself in His fullness – grace upon grace (John 1:16).

This is the beauty of God’s saving grace. It rests solely upon the person of Christ and His completed work on the cross. It takes human merits out of the equation, and values only the truth that Jesus + Nothing = Everything. One preacher has put it succinctly: “The gods of moralistic religions favor the successful and the overachievers. They are the ones who climb the moral ladder up to heaven. But the God of the Bible is the one who comes down into this world to accomplish a salvation and give us a grace we could never attain ourselves.”

The centerpiece of the Gospel is Christ and His love for people. “Jesus was God spelling Himself out in language humanity could understand” (S.D. Gordon).

God loves you. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NIV).

God loves you unconditionally. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, NIV). “This is real love–not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:10, NLT).

God loves you to have a personal relationship with Him. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). “You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

If you hear His voice today, harden not your heart, but listen to His call.

Salvation belongs to our God!