When you think about Jesus, what do you think about?

The answer to this question is of utmost importance for all of us to reckon with. Not unlike the question Jesus posed to His disciples, “Who do you say I am?”

What we think of Christ is a question that cannot be escaped, it must be confronted.

We who have been brought up in this faith know the right answer - You are the Christ, the Son of the living God - yet we must not allow ourselves to repeat it as a matter of fact statement and nothing more.

We must not and never rest on the right answer, instead we must dig deeper, to the heart of the matter.

So I ask again, “When you think about Jesus, what do you think about?”

Where do your thoughts lead you?

What is it like for you to dwell on Christ? Is it pleasant and prolonged or is it dry and dusty from unuse?

Does He fascinate you?

Do you long for more time to think on Him? Does your heart burn within you as you fix your thoughts on Him?

Are you eager to get alone with Him?

Do you plan and rearrange and configure your day just to carve out another small slice of time with Him? And when that time comes, are your feet swift to run to that place?

“As the deer pants for water so pants my soul for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” Psalm 42:1-2

Do you know of what I speak of? Do you know of this panting of the soul as the Psalmist puts it?

Have you personally experienced the sweetness of thinking on Him and dwelling with Him, being in His presence?

Even now, stop and think on Him, the lovely One, Jesus.

Fix your mind. Hold fast your thoughts. Stay there. Don’t leave so quickly. Linger for awhile!

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8

Do we allow our mind to “think on these things,” or is our attention diverted elsewhere? How much of our thought life do we allocate to thinking on Him each day?

Can we barely manage to rip ourselves away from these thoughts of Christ in order to accomplish the day’s tasks?

Or is it the reverse and we can never seem to find the time to think only on Him?

We somehow always seem to be just a little bit too busy, a little bit too distracted, a little bit too uninterested to quiet ourselves and wait before Him, to stop the multi-tasking and get alone with God.

Oh, what travesty is this, when the most Glorious One cannot captivate us, can no longer hold our attention!

“For the eyes of the LORD roam throughout the earth, so that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” 2 Chronicles 16:9

Completely His. Fully devoted.

Every thought. Captive. Obedient to Christ. Turned to Him. Thinking on Him.

In Him in all things. To Him in all things. For Him in all things.

Isaiah 53 paints the vivid picture of this Worthy One, this spotless Lamb, Jesus. Read through the passages, pausing at the line breaks to think upon Him as you’ve just heard Him described. Don’t be in a hurry, linger for awhile.

For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,

And as a root out of dry ground.

He has no form or comeliness;

And when we see Him,

There is no beauty that we should desire Him.

He is despised and rejected by men,

A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;

He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Surely He has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;

Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten by God, and afflicted.

But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

We have turned, every one, to his own way;

And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He opened not His mouth;

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,

And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

So He opened not His mouth.

For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.

He had done no violence,

Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him.

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When you think about Jesus, what do you think about? The answer to this question is of utmost importance for all of us to reckon with.

In love,

Derek