Jesus Christ

“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead–by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’”

–Acts 4:8-12

Jesus Christ, by whose name alone men call for salvation and are answered, by whose name the blind see and the lame walk and the dead have new life, Eternal Son of the Eternal Father, blessed Redeemer:

How selfish have I been with your name. I have hoarded it as though a guilty pleasure, a private commodity for my own refreshment alone. On occasions with others who neither know nor revere it nor receive of its saving power, I have feared instead their powers: of esteem. Thus am I revealed for a lover and defender and promoter of my own name, against yours. I shy away from pointing to the criminal and sinful need we all have of your name. I suffer the lame to carry on begging on account of the shaming implications of the cure’s utterance. “There is salvation found in one one else, for there is no other name…” a name whose taking may indeed injure my own. Let your name erode mine, O Christ, that I may be dead to sin and alive to you.

Be not angry with me forever, but remove my sin from me. Indeed, even as I despise the name, you have given me the riches of forgiveness by it. Therefore, there is nothing more to confess but your name alone: Jesus Christ. Amen.

Doxology

But our sins have spoiled Thine image; nature, conscience only serve

As unceasing, grim reminders of the wrath which we deserve.

Yet Thy grace and saving mercy in Thy word of truth revealed

Claim the praise of all who know Thee, in the blood of Jesus sealed.

–God, All Nature Sings Thy Glory by Davis Clowney