Jesus is better.

Jesus is the difference maker. Jesus sets Christianity apart from every other belief system in the past, present, and future.

This may seem obvious. But it’s easy to forget, isn’t it?

It’s easy to forget that He is greater than everything else our idol-producing hearts raise up in His place. It’s easy to talk generically about God and how good He is, but leave out Jesus, the clearest evidence of His goodness, because He is less culturally acceptable than generic spirituality. It’s easy to become so excited about good things – gifts, even, from God Himself – that we elevate them above the Giver of all gifts.

And the irony of it all?

It’s to our own detriment.

We’re going to post up in Hebrews for much of this year, and one thing is made abundantly clear in Hebrews: Jesus is better.

The church audience of Hebrews had become obsessed with angels. It was the trendy doctrine of the day. They had elevated angels above Jesus.

Today we hardly talk about angels…which is a problem in and of itself for another day (they war on our behalf…how incredible is that?!)…but we have our own “doctrines of angels,” don’t we?

The idols we raise up, the generic spirituality we elevate above the Gospel of Jesus, the celebration of the gifts above the Giver…our “doctrines of angels” take different forms. What is yours? What does Jesus wants to supplant in your life?

 [Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (Hebrews 1:3-4)

He is more excellent.

For His glory, and for our good, He is more excellent. Nothing else wholly satisfies our souls!

Jesus is extraordinary. There aren’t words in our human tongues to fully describe His might, His dominion, His love, and His grace. But on this earth, even the glimpse we have of His fullness is life-altering. I know this, and so do you. But in our humanity, we forget. Let's remind each other to choose Him over our "doctrines of angels" in the coming months. After all, even the angels were created to worship Him.

See you Sunday!
Erika