Essential Elements: Forging Godly MenSample

A New Story

Jesus experienced everything we do—feelings, limitations, suffering—yet lived without sin. His birth ushered into time a new story, one we affectionately call the gospel or the good news. Christmas is the intervention of God, the revelation of his plan to redeem men and adopt them as sons.

But Jesus’s birth was only part one of the divine story. By divine authority and power, he performed miracles and had dominion over nature. His incredible earthly ministry culminated when he was arrested, flogged, sentenced, crucified, and buried. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice of the spotless Lamb of God on the Cross, willingly presented as payment for man’s wages of sin that separated us from God: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)

Jesus didn’t just come back to life after he was crucified. He conquered death, never to die again. Jesus’s resurrection was the moment God tore down the barrier between man and himself. This miracle showcased his triumph over physical death and spiritual death, both of which were consequences of man’s actions in the Garden.

Without Jesus’s resurrection, our hope as men would be lost. But with it, everything changes. Through our belief in his death and resurrection we can know eternal life. This belief goes beyond mere acknowledgment; it’s a deep, personal faith in Jesus as the bridge between God and us. In him, we find the completion of God’s redemptive narrative, a promise fulfilled, a hope made real: “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!” (Romans 5:10).

These three parts of Jesus’s story—his birth, death, and resurrection—altered the course of history. As God’s perfect man, Jesus showed us what we were called to be but could never achieve ourselves. When we believe in Jesus, we are surrendering to him who broke into time, defeated sin and death, and lives forevermore. We are stepping into a new story, one filled with purpose, hope, and a renewed relationship with God. This is what makes a man.

How does the realization of Jesus as God’s perfect man transform your approach to life and relationships?

This plan is presented to you by Essential Elements by Vince Miller.To learn more about this book, please click here.