4 Focuses of Jesus Christ

– John 10:10

Devotional: 4 Focuses of Jesus Christ

The Focus of Forgiveness

Jesus said many times that He came so that we might have eternal life and have life to the fullest (John 10:10b). Jesus said, “… that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Matt. 9:6). After healing a paralytic man, Jesus said, “Son, your sins are forgiven” (Mark 2:5), and Jesus did it yet again in Luke 5, upon which the scribes and Pharisees said, “Who can forgive sins but God alone” (Luke 5:21)? Exactly! Jesus is God, so He has the right and the authority to forgive sins. He came “so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom 3:26).

The Focus of Fullness

Jesus came not only to forgive sins but that we might have life to the fullest (John 10:10b). This fullness of life also includes having the peace of God that all saved sinners now enjoy (Rom. 5:1) and lifted the condemnation we previously had (Rom. 8:1). This is what He said: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). You cannot have the peace of God until you are at peace with God. If you have peace with God, you have forgiveness. God is not angry with those who believe in the Son of God, but for those who refuse to believe in Him, there is only the fullness of God’s wrath still abiding on them (John 3:36b).

The Focus of the Fulfillment

Jesus never came to destroy the Law but to fulfill it (Matt. 5:17). He was not talking about the Mosaic Law either, even though He kept these. He fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the Law and never broke one commandment. He kept the Law because we couldn’t. The religious leaders looked good on the outside, but actually Jesus told them to their face that they were “making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down” (Mark 7:13) and “have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions” (Mark 7:8), “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7), making their traditions equal to or, in some cases, greater than God’s holy Law.

The Focus of Finding the Lost

Jesus’ focus was on saving lost souls, saying, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10), “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost” (Matt. 18:11). Paul humbly stated to Timothy in his pastoral epistle, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst” (1 Tim. 1:15) and “to save the world through him” (John 3:17b). Is that our focus, too?

Conclusion

Jesus’ focus should be our focus, too, which includes forgiving others, living life to the fullest, keeping God’s Law as best we can, and focusing on seeking those who are lost, which is why Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the fullest” (John 10:10b).