Made for More: 30 Days of Experiencing More Life, Love, and Freedomنموونە

Day 1: Why Jesus Came

Why did Jesus come?

The offer of the Gospel isn’t one-dimensional—it’s expansive, personal, and full of life. Jesus didn’t come to simply accomplish a task or fulfill one thing. His coming was the fulfillment of over 300 prophecies, yes—but more than that, it was a multifaceted invitation bundled in an act of rescue as a part of an extravagant ongoing love story.

At its headline, God made something right that had gone terribly wrong. The Father wanted His family back, so the Son came to bring us home.

You can see the Gospels’ many lanes when you see the many ways people respond to Jesus’s offer of Life and Love. Some come through the lane of wanting to be saved from punishment and escape hell. Others come through the lane of loneliness and the promise I will never leave you. Some come to experience deep forgiveness, others to be healed spiritually, emotionally, or even physically, and others come to break free from the shame of their past. Some respond to Jesus because they long for a new future. All come with hope. Every reason is valid. But all roads, no matter how different, lead to and go through Jesus.

So why did Jesus say He came?

He made it clear early on. In Luke 4, we find Jesus in the synagogue, he’s handed the scroll of Isaiah. He opens to chapter 61 and reads:

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners.
— Isaiah 61:1 / Luke 4:18

This was His first public declaration of why He came—and it was just the beginning.

The Gospels continue the list:

• I came to seek and save that which was lost. — Luke 19:10
• I came that they might have life, and have it to the full. — John 10:10
• The Son of Man came to give His life as a ransom. — Matthew 20:28

That word ransom is powerful. Think about what it means. What has eBay taught us? That the value of something is determined by what someone is willing to pay for it. Jesus paid everything for us. Why? Because we matter. Because we are valuable to the One whose image we bear and we were/are worth the price. It’s why He came.

The friends of Jesus—the apostles—echoed this in their writings:

• He came to rescue us from this present evil age. — Galatians 1:4
• He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness. — Colossians 1:13
• The God of all grace… will himself restore you and make you strong. — 1 Peter 5:10

Rescue and restore sound pretty good! If this is why He came, then we must need all of this.

Flip through almost any part of the New Testament and look for phrases like in Christ, through Christ, with Christ, and from Christ. They are all clues, adding to the notion of why Jesus came. And then, tucked into Galatians 5:1 is this big breathtaking truth:

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

It begs the question…If freedom is the offer, then why aren’t more of us free?

That’s the very question the Larger Gospel is inviting us to explore.

Jesus came for all of these reasons and more, because we need all of these provisions and more. The journey of walking with Him is not only about salvation—it’s very much about redemption and restoration. About becoming more. About experiencing more. About becoming more whole.

In the coming days, we’ll explore these reasons in greater depth—unpacking why Jesus came, what more He is offering, and how we can receive it, and most importantly, how we can live into the more. Together we’ll pursue more Life, more Love, and more Freedom. Why? So that we might experience more of God’s love and become more ourselves, becoming more alive, and yes, absolutely yes, living more and more free!

This is the Larger Gospel and what Jesus came to do so that we can experience all that we truly are.

And Jesus is the way.

As you reflect on all this with God today, consider asking Him:

Jesus, how does understanding more of why you came affect me and how I live my life?

Holy Spirit, where am I not free? If freedom is the offer, then what is in me, or in my story, or coming at me that is inhibiting me and the ability to live free?

Father, is there one phrase or sentence that feels like it’s just for me today? Would You help me hear it clearly and understand why it matters?