The Father sent Him with a mission to accomplish. There are four core components that comprised His time here on earth once He reached the appointed time to begin His ministry.

He had a message, a purpose, a directive, and an assignment.

Matthew 4:17 records His message;

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Repent means to make a decision that results in a change of mind, which leads to a change of purpose and action. Our soul must come to repentance by the convicting of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8). Look to John 16:7-11 for the complete passage;

⁷ Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. ⁸ And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹ of sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; ¹¹ of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

The purpose of Jesus was to redeem man (Galatians 3:13,14; Galatians 4:4,5; and Titus 2:14). In the beginning, God the Father gave Man, through Adam, complete authority and dominion over all that He had created. Adam disobeyed God’s command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and that brought a curse upon all of mankind.

A man who was without sin committed treason against God and sinned. The action cursed all future generations of Man. Blood had to be spilled, and death was the punishment for that crime. But to satisfy the requirements, a man without sin had to die. Jesus alone would be the one to fulfill that requirement.

The directive of Jesus was to do the will of the Father. John 5:30 states of Jesus;

³⁰ I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

John 6:38-40 gives this information;

³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. ³⁹ This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. ⁴⁰ And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Jesus came and conducted His life in complete obedience to the Father. He only spoke what He heard the Father say, and He only did what He saw the Father do. Every fiber of His being was bent to do the Father’s will, not His own.

His assignment here on Earth was to restore what Adam had lost at the beginning of creation. Adam was to rule over everything that God had made, but he lost that when he sinned. Adam gave that authority to Satan when he committed treason.

When God created Man, this was said in Genesis 1:26-28;

²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Jesus came to the earth to overthrow the illegal landlord and take back all that had been lost. He was guiltless when He was crucified so at the trial of heaven; the Father found Him not guilty and called His spirit out of the pit. At that moment Jesus took the keys of authority back from Satan and also redeemed Man from the curse of hell and death.

We who have accepted this gift of life by recognizing what Jesus did for us are now free. We are free because Jesus fulfilled His mission here on earth. Before Jesus departed to return to the Father, He gave us a commission. There are two parts to it. One is found in Matthew 28: 18-20 and the other is found in Mark 16:15-18.

Look these passages up. Read them out loud to yourself; meditate on them. Jesus has given every individual believer this assignment. Go do what He has commanded us to do!

Rejoice, for you are greatly loved!

What if a tragedy occurs in your life or happens to a person within your family? A person becomes handicapped or disfigured because of circumstances not of their control, can the person on the other side of that tragedy meet the same expectations and return love? Can you meet the same expectations and return love to them?

Circumstances like this happen more frequently than we would like to believe. So many marriages come unraveled because of changes to physical appearance or emotional attitude toward one another. It would seem the bond of Holy Matrimony in the modern world is a bygone commitment.

It is easy to love the young, vibrant, and shapely woman of your youth, but when childbearing takes a negative turn on her body, can you still love the real woman, or were you only attracted to the physical form?

Perhaps the dependable man you let the world borrow came back from a battlefield less than whole. How do you love the damaged soul that returned when your memories are of an easier time?

In Genesis, chapter 29, Jacob went to his uncle Laban in the country where he lived. He made a deal to work for seven years for his daughter, Rachel. At the end of the seven years, Laban brought her older sister, Leah, to the wedding tent. In the morning, Jacob woke up to an enormous surprise and felt cheated. Laban told him he could not give the younger daughter in marriage before the older daughter. If Jacob wanted to, he could work another seven years for Rachel, but he had to accept Leah as his first wife. Jacob now had an unattractive wife, and he did he want to be married to her.

Something to think about here: there are two sides to every relationship. Jacob thought Laban cheated him, but what about Leah? She is now married to a man who doesn’t want her. God saw this rejection and allowed her to bear children, but would not allow Rachel to bear any children to Jacob. Jacob desired Rachel but rejected Leah. He had to spend years learning to love the one he didn’t want. In ancient times, your prodigy was your wealth and future. Leah gave him sons. Rachel did not.

Leah felt unwanted, unloved, and rejected by Jacob. Her struggle was to be relevant to her husband and her God. Even the names of the boys reflected how Leah felt. First came a boy she named Reuben, which means ‘to see me’. The second son, she named Simeon, which means ‘to hear me’. The third son she named Levi, meaning ‘to be joined with me’. Each birth was an effort to be recognized by Jacob. Would he see me? Would he hear me? Would he join himself to me? The fourth son, she named Judah, which means ‘to give thanks, to give praise’. She has given it over to God and is worshipping Him.  

Altogether, Leah gave Jacob six sons and a daughter. Half of Jacob’s sons resulted from his relationship with Leah.

It took many years, but he learned to love her. She was not his first choice, but she was faithful to him, and the LORD allowed her to continue to bear sons. A wonderful thing came about from this relationship, but it took time and patience for love to grow.

Perhaps in your life right now, there are circumstances you would rather not be in. Be like Leah; call on the LORD and ask Him to intervene in your time of affliction and bless what you have.

Be like Jacob and learn to love what has changed in your relationship and find the treasure that is hidden within.