Have you ever been scared? Have you ever faced such a sudden calamity that you had no time to react? Within the Twinkling of an eye you are overcome by primal fear. 

I was once overcome by primal fear. I knew I was about to be the victim of a tragic auto accident. It was sudden. Unexpected. It was the worst kind of fear, for there was no time to react. But for the grace of God, I would have been dead within a split second of realizing I was in trouble. 

When it was all said and done, I sat in my car, hands molded to the steering wheel in a death-grip. 

Years later, I was threatened with a potentially terminal disease. That time, I had time to think and pray. For weeks that was all I did, but not because I was afraid. Not this time. Rather, I was at peace, knowing that God was with me, holding my hand. My prayers were of thanksgiving. “Fear Not. For I am with you.” Claim the promise. 

In an episode of the classic TV series M*A*S*H, Hawkeye is asked by a reporter if he had brought any books with him to Korea. 

“Yes,”he replied. He had brought a dictionary. 

Why? Because, within a dictionary, one could find the texts of every other book. 

In Revelation, Jesus calls Himself Alpha and Omega, which are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. One could say He is A to Z and everything in between. 

John, who wrote the book we call Revelation, in his gospel had referred to Jesus as The Word. 

The point of this text in Revelation is that Jesus is the Eternal God. In the beginning, Jesus already existed. In the end, Jesus will be. There are, yet, other lessons that we can learn from the title Alpha and Omega. One of them is this:

He is all we need, and sufficient for all our needs. We need no other god and no other power; He is our everything. Our breath. Our life. Our resurrection. Our bread. Our water. The Holy One. His only Son. 

He is the complete Word, the first and the last word on the topic of salvation. In Him, we have the complete story of the redemption of humanity. In His holiness we find completion. And in His grace we find mercy. 

In His Holy Word, we finds His life, and everything we need for our life. Every word preserved in His Word points to Him. History is His story. 

He is that dictionary that contains every story. He created all that exists, and was then born into that creation. He is the King of Kings. He is my King. 

Jesus is not only our Lord (The Way, The Truth, The Life, The Door), He is also our teacher. What we learn here is that we are to be servants, caring for one another, meeting each other’s needs, even if that means performing the most menial of tasks. 

True Christianity is an expression of true love, seeking only what’s best for others, even if it’s at our own expense. We put the needs of others above our own needs. We give generously, and go the extra mile, especially when those to whom we extend ourselves are lost and in need of redemption. We love our neighbor the same way we love ourselves. We love even our enemy.  

We feed the hungry. We give drink to the thirsty. We clothe the naked. We take care of widows and orphans. We visit those in prison. We love them, for even the lowliest are God’s children. Even those we hate, may be of God. We do these things not for our glory, but because God has filed us with His love; we can do no other.