I AM

"I solemnly declare it; before Abraham came to be, I AM." John 8:58

What was it about Jesus' solemn declaration that elicited such a strong reaction from the Jews? After He said this, they picked up stones to kill Him for being a blasphemer. Implicit in Jesus' statement was His claim to BE GOD. A Jew could not mistake it. "I AM" is the divine name God called Himself when He appeared to Moses in the burning bush in Exodus 3:14. In Hebrew the word "TO BE" is the same as YHWH. It is the big word Tetragrammaton "He who is" or "I am who am", God's name which Jews do not pronounce. 

So here we see clearly that Jesus claims to BE GOD. As C.S. Lewis says, we are faced with a trilemma. We have to decide whether Jesus is who He claims to be, or not. He cannot just be a good man or a prophet. He is either a liar, a lunatic or Lord! 

To me, this is one of the most important decisions we make in life. Bigger than who will I marry, where will I work, or what is my life's purpose. Why? Because if Jesus is God, then He had a very important reason for coming to earth. We better find out what that is! It is a decision that has a big impact in the whole of our life. A wrong decision about Jesus changes the very essence of who we are. Do we live connected to the God who gives us breath or not? Do we just treat him as a great moral teacher and leave Him in the fringe of our life or do we bring Him to the center? 

Lord, I choose You. I choose You because I recognize You as God, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. May I follow where You lead!