Reflect
Why Jesus
In our world today, it’s easy to feel lost or overwhelmed by our own shortcomings and the brokenness around us. No matter how hard we try, we can’t escape the pain that seems to have a firm grip on our lives. It’s clear that we’re all in need of something—or someone—to save us from our brokenness. Our very core longs for it. But no amount of earthly love, power, fame, fortune, or stuff from Amazon will fulfill that need.
The only answer is Jesus.
You see, we have all fallen short.
The reality of our condition is that we are broken by sin, mainly due to Adam’s disobedience, condemning all of mankind. Man was made in God’s image, was given power, and had unlimited access to God.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” – Genesis 1:26
God gave them one rule: To not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” – Genesis 2:15–17
But Adam and Eve were tempted and ate. They obviously went on to live long lives, raising children. So their physical bodies did not die. Their spiritual connection with God was severed through their disobedience, condemning all generations to come.
And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. – Genesis 3:17–18
Romans also simply spells out the Adam’s actions cause:
…As sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. – Romans 5:12-14
And,
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." – Romans 3:23
Sin isn’t just about doing wrong things; it’s a separation from God, our source of life and purpose.
Sin has consequences.
Sin doesn’t just harm our relationship with God—it brings destruction and death.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. – 1 Corinthians 15:56
We cannot save ourselves.
No amount of good deeds or self-improvement can bridge the gap between us and God. Salvation isn’t something we earn. It’s a gift that God gives us through Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9
He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit… – Titus 3:5
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. – Romans 11:6
So Jesus came to save us, healing our brokenness.
But instead of feeling hopelessness, we have an advocate with God, an answer to our brokenness. Jesus lived a perfect life we couldn’t live, gave himself fully for us, died for our sins, brought us back into God’s family, making us whole.
Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.' – John 14:6
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. – 1 Timothy 2:5-6
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. – Romans 8:1–4
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. – 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
We have this access all because God loves us.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. – Romans 5:6-11
God doesn’t require us to jump through hoops, or endless good works, or fruitless ceremonies. He has made the path simple through Christ, asking for our trust and our hearts.
…because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. – Romans 10:9-10
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. – 1 John 4:15
We are made new in him.
Through Jesus, we experience new life, no longer defined by our sin but by His love. Jesus doesn’t just forgive our sins—he makes us whole, transforming our lives from the inside out.
But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. – Isaiah 53:5
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. – Romans 5:1
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. – Colossians 1:13-14
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. – 2 Corinthians 5:17
We become part of God’s family, no longer outsiders but beloved children.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. – John 1:12
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. – Ephesians 2:13
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. – 1 John 3:1
Jesus gives us eternal hope, joy, and peace.
Jesus promises not just transformation for our lives here and now but hope for eternity.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. – 1 Peter 1:3-4
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. – Romans 5:1-2
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. – 2 Corinthians 2:14
Our brokenness may feel overwhelming, but Jesus offers hope, healing, and a path to wholeness. We don’t have to be defined by our past mistakes or the pain of this world. Through Jesus, we are made new, brought into God’s family, and given the gift of eternal life. He is the Savior we all need, the one who takes our broken pieces and turns them into something beautiful.