In a book of Christmas stories, I once found this description of Christ:

He was a working man, a ragged carpenter with neither a roof above His head nor a pillow beneath it, sleeping under the stars or in borrowed beds, His robe a blanket, His nightlight the moon.

For thirty–six months He drifted about doing good and telling stories. He never hurt a soul. He healed the sick, taught the masses, fed the hungry, walked across the seas, and preached the good news. Wherever He went, the miraculous broke out—at weddings, at funerals, on the land and on the lake, on the mountainside and in the city streets. He became the help of the helpless and the hope of the hopeless. He turned water into wine, and with bread and fish He fed a multitude; yet He Himself was sometimes hungry, and in His death He cried out in thirst….

He was buried in a donated mausoleum. Yet His tomb, guarded by the Roman soldiers, was opened by heavenly agents—and found empty. And for two thousand years we can say that all the angels of heaven, all the demons of hell, all the stars in the sky, and all the men of the earth have never understood the influence of this gentle child in swaddling clothes who was laid in a manger with no crib for a bed—Jesus Christ our Lord.¹

Because Jesus lived in history (there’s no doubt about that) and because His life was recorded (the entire Bible is about Him), we can learn about Him. But because He rose from the grave and is now alive, we can have a personal relationship with Him and come to know Him more deeply and intimately.

In the following pages, I’d like to help you grow closer to Jesus—the Beloved Son, the Everlasting Lord, the Promised Messiah, the Sacrificial Intercessor, the Compassionate Servant, the Powerful Provider, the Trusted Teacher, the Great I AM, the Selfless Savior, the Worthy King… and my Best Friend.

May He be yours too!

¹Robert J. Morgan, 12 Stories of Christmas (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2014), 226–228.