08/31/2026
In my devotion this morning the father asked do you really know who my son is? There is surely an answer to this. It should be yes, but for some of us have in our mind an image of Jesus that is not who he is, nor who he was or even who he is to come to us God’s children. So today let’s examine our knowledge of God and Jesus and develop a real relationship with him. - Dr. T’s Talks
How Well Do You Know Jesus?
“Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:18-20, NLT)
“Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God.” (1 John 4:1-2, NLT)
“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.” (Colossians 2:8-9, NLT)
Have you ever been in a conversation with someone about Jesus when it seemed like maybe they knew a different Jesus then the one you know? Unfortunately, the world continues to create Jesuses to fit all of humanity’s perceived needs. Need a life coach? There’s a Jesus for that. Need an inclusive spiritual leader? There’s a Jesus for that. Need a wise sage to help you through deep life issues? There’s a Jesus for that. The problem is that these Jesuses aren’t the real Jesus revealed to us in Scripture. These Jesuses are less than the real thing, and we need to be able to spot the fakes. We can spot the fake Jesuses, though, only if we know the real Jesus. We need the real Jesus because he’s the only one who can solve humanity’s deepest problem: our need of redemption for our sins so that we can be reconciled with our Creator.
Before I (Doug) became a Christian, I studied writers who had a high view of Jesus, but who misinterpreted his teachings and his identity. After I became a Christian, I realized that there were many false views of Jesus afoot, but that the Jesus portrayed in the Bible was the truth. All other views somehow weakened his stature or made him but one of many great teachers, gurus, or prophets. Although he certainly was a teacher and a prophet, he is also divine and worthy of our praise.
While some people exercise their Christian faith without the support of historical evidence or sound reasoning, both evidence and reason work together to help us behold the real Jesus.
There’s a reason why Jesus told his followers to love the Lord with all their hearts and minds (Matthew 22:37-38)—we use both to honor him as holy.
It’s simply not possible that all religions can be true. Neither can all the different versions of Jesus be correct. Jesus was not a mere prophet (Islam), a mere sage (Buddhism), an avatar or essence (Hinduism), or a minor god (Jehovah’s Witness and Latter-day Saints). Neither was he a merely mortal teacher of morality. Unfortunately, some Christians have fallen for these lies, lies that have been told for more than 2,000 years in some cases. In fact, the New Testament warns of false teachings about Christ and salvation (1 John 4:1-6; Matthew 24:24; Galatians 1:6-10; Colossians 2:8-10). The first-century Christians and Jesus himself knew that false teachings would happen, and we should take those warnings seriously. We need to be on guard against fake Jesuses.
Prayerfully consider what you know about Jesus. Know who it is you worship and why. Then, when you meet someone who tells you Jesus isn’t divine and God himself, you’ll have the confidence to respond with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). Knowing more about Jesus will develop the zeal and skill to present his earthshaking claims to the world with assurance. Jesus himself calls us to testify to his truth by making disciples of the nations (Matthew 28:18-20). We can’t do that if we don’t know the real Jesus.
