Jesus is Better

Dear, Christian

I want you to see that Jesus is better than anything that you ever wanted and he is better than anyone you could ever have in your life. We wrestle with contentment and get easily discouraged when life doesn’t work the way we want it to. We convince ourselves that once we get life to work for us and improve our circumstances, then we would be satisfied. If only cancer could go away. If only I could get a full-time job. If only my child would listen. If only my spouse would appreciate me. If only I could lose weight. If only my boss would promote me. If only I could buy a house. If only the debt went away. The reality is this, if all those things improved, there would still be an ache in us for something more. Why? Because those things were not meant to satisfy us and they can’t satisfy us. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with wanting those things, but they are unable to give us what we were ultimately made for, Jesus.

Jesus is better than healing. Jesus is better than work. Jesus is better than our spouse. Jesus is better than our children. Jesus is better than health. Jesus is better than owning a home. Jesus is better than having our financial debt paid off. Jesus is better than money. Jesus is better than anything and everything because we weren't made by those things or made for those things. We were made by Jesus and for Jesus. John 1:3 says “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” Colossians 1:15 says “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” Everything in this universe was created by Jesus and for Jesus, this includes you and me. However, it is because of sin that we are prone to look to created things to sustain us and satisfy us instead of the creator. The good news is that Jesus made a way back for us to God. Jesus came and he died so that we might be forgiven, set free and have fellowship with the Father.

Even though as Christians we have been set free from the bondage of sin, we still have the sinful tendency at play in us. Sin tries to entice us to find our joy in the created order instead of God. It also entices us to do things that God clearly forbids us to do because they are not life-giving, even though it promises it will give us life. Jesus is better than lust, Jesus is better than an affair, Jesus is better than same-sex relationships, Jesus is better than pornography, he is better than drunkenness, he is better than gluttony, and he is better than gender reassignment. Resist the lies that sin tries to tell us. It always promises to give us a shortcut to what we already have in God, but in the end, it only gives us death.

Think back to the Garden, when sin first entered the world through Adam and Eve. The serpent tempted them with what they already had. He told them God didn’t want them to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil because God was afraid that they would be like them. The truth is they were already in the likeness of God because they were made in his image. Sin still tries to whisper lies in our ears today. Sin promises us today that we will be truly satisfied if we did the forbidden. We would truly feel love and acceptance if we pursued the forbidden. It tells us that all of our problems would go away if we did the forbidden. In Christ, we have all that we need to find satisfaction and face the problems we will experience. We don’t need a shortcut, we need the Saviour.

Whatever you are going through right now or whatever you are being tempted with, believe that Jesus is better. Dig your heels into the grace of God and press into your saviour. Ask him to help you believe that he is better than anything, even good things and that he truly is enough to satisfy those deep longings in the heart. As you pursue him and rest in his promise and grace he will help you become more satisfied in him each day, so that no matter what happens or what comes your way, you will still be able to see that Jesus is better.

I want to leave you with lyrics from a worship song by Austin Stone Worship called “Jesus is Better”, and I encourage you to look it up on YouTube.

Glory, glory, we have no other king
But Jesus Lord of all
Raise the anthem, our loudest praises ring
We crown Him Lord of all

In all my sorrows, Jesus is Better

Make my heart believe

In all my victories, Jesus is better

make my heart believe

More than all riches, Jesus is better

make my heart believe

Our souls declaring, Jesus is better

make my heart believe

Our song eternal, Jesus is better

make my heart believe

My prayer for all of us today is that Jesus would help our hearts believe that he is better.

From your brother in Christ,

Josh Dorey