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What Jesus Means to Me
Classic devotional literature that gives expression to the joy Christians find through faith in Christ. Includes presentation page and an index of the Bible passages used in the book.
- GenresNonfiction
142 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1948
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 12, 2023
One of my parishioners recommended this book to me. I’m always wary whenever a parishioner recommends a book or article for me to read because they tend to read things with atrocious theology, but noticing that this book was published by CPH, I had higher hopes. This little book aims to bring the objective Jesus as Saviour to the subjective “FOR YOU.” The question is often asked, “Who WAS Jesus,” but as Christians, Jesus is more than a historical person who lived at a certain time in a certain place. It is vital to focus on the present tense of who Jesus IS, especially who He is FOR YOU. Thus, it is always important for the Christian to ask, “Who IS Jesus,” especially, “Who is Jesus TO ME?”
Because this brings Jesus from the objective to the subjective, there are many ways in which a person can answer this question. For Gockel, the words he focuses on are life, pardon, peace, power, provision, companionship, hope, truth, assurance, joy, and Heaven. The book is divided up by those words. Because the “chapters” are so short, the book can easily be used as a devotional book. Each little section is expertly relatable to the layman. After reading the preface, I was expecting this book to be one of those sappy, shallow devotional books. But I was immediately captivated by the very first section on Jesus as life. He quotes from Paul in Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ.” Gockel comments on this exceedingly well, “The artist who spends the late and early hours in the company of his paint and brush and canvas may very well say, ‘For me to live is ART.’ The musician who thinks and dreams and speaks of nothing but his music may very well say, ‘For me to live is MUSIC.’ In a similar but in an unspeakably higher sense, I can truly say, ‘For to me to live is CHRIST’!” (p. 1).
As a former professional musician, I immediately grasped what he was saying. I always describe music as my first love. I fell in love with music when I was 8-years-old and started playing the saxophone. Years later, I would play in marching band, my high school’s top concert band, orchestra, pit orchestra, various quartets, and finally professionally in the Army Bands. While I may not be able to play as much as I’d like to as a pastor, music still has a big place in my heart. For me, to live has always been music. I know my dad can relate as well. He recently left everything behind in Illinois to start a music venue in Muskegon, Michigan called The Starlight Room, and it’s been very successful. For my dad as well, to live is music. But most of all for me, to live is CHRIST. There’s a reason why I left my first career as an Army musician to pursue the pastoral office, because I have a deeper love and passion for Christ and His Word. This doesn’t mean everybody who loves Jesus should become a pastor or enter some other kind of professional church work, but the question should be asked, “What, or whom, do I live for?” For every Christian, that answer should be, “I live for Christ, because He lived, died, and rose for me, and He lives for me eternally.”
Also, as a poet, I like that he includes Christian poetry in these reflections, some of which were composed into hymns. Poetry is an under-appreciated genre of literature and art, so I’m glad he included poetry to aid in the reader’s meditation.
One last thing I really appreciate about the book is that although it’s about what Jesus means TO ME, it’s not me-focused, which is a common mistake many evangelical writers make. It is still entirely Christ-centred. He makes many important doctrinal points, and without diving into what doctrine he’s bringing up, they’re short and to the point and easy to understand for any layman.
A few critiques: (1) When Gockel quotes Scripture, he should reference where it’s coming from. This book is definitely intended for laymen, and not every layman is literate in the Scriptures. At times, they may not know he’s quoting Scripture; and even if they do, I’m sure they’d like to know which book of the Bible he’s quoting from. Even for me, I would like to know where exactly he’s quoting in Scripture for both present and future reference. I found myself having to Google pretty much all of them. He does have an index of Bible passages in the back, but it would be more efficient and a lot easier to have them in parentheses right after the quoted verse like everybody else does.
(2) There are a few times when Gockel uses decision theology language. I don’t want to launch into a whole polemic since this is just a book review, but this is not how we Lutherans speak of conversion. Gockel was a Lutheran pastor, so he should’ve known better than to use this language, and it’s surprising this wasn’t caught during CPH’s doctrinal review process. Then again, the first edition of this book was published in 1948, and I think that was before there was a doctrinal review process at CPH. At the same time, however, the edition I read was re-published in 2008, and there definitely was a doctrinal review process at this time, but I guess when you’re re-publishing something, there’s “no need” for a doctrinal review.
In any case, his theology here is inconsistent. For example, he says, “No man is ready to accept Christ as his Savior from hell and damnation until he has felt the hot breath of hell blow over his quivering conscience” (p. 11), and then just two pages later he says, “What I could not do, Christ did for me” (p. 13). Another time, he talks about accepting Christ and then BEING accepted into God’s family. Then later he writes, “I have learned that man, as far as his natural abilities are concerned, is utterly corrupt, completely helpless, and—if left to himself—doomed to an eternal separation from his Maker” (p. 85).
So, which is it? Do we have the ability to make a decision for Jesus, even though we’re dead in sin (and dead people can’t do anything), or does Christ do what we cannot do, which is to make us His? As Lutherans, we always say the latter—it’s all on Christ’s choosing, not our own, since before conversion we only have the capacity to choose sin and death. The problem with decision theology is that if our conversion depends on our “accepting” or “choosing” Christ, our conversion—and therefore our salvation—lies entirely on us and our ability to choose Him. So, when we inevitably fail to choose Him many times throughout our lives, we fall into despair because we’re relying on our feeble power rather than the unfailing and surpassing power of Christ who makes us His own. It is shocking to me that a Lutheran pastor with a Ph.D. would employ such poor theology.
(3) Gockel ends the book with Heaven. A better ending would be the new creation because it’s not Heaven that’s the final goal of the Christian, but the new heavens and the new Earth, that is, the bodily resurrection. I tend to get a lot of pushback when I say this because people think I’m saying Heaven is bad. I don’t think that, and I’ve never said it. Heaven is a good place. Jesus calls it Paradise (Luke 23:43). But Jesus also said Heaven and Earth will pass away (Matthew 24:35). Why? To make room for the new heavens and the new Earth, so you better hope you’re still not in Heaven when it passes away! That’s what the Book of Revelation is all about and why that book is of great comfort to Christians because the end for us is not dying and going to Heaven but being risen from the dead and joining our Lord in the new creation! We are meant to have bodies because God created us with bodies. We are not meant to be bodiless beings.
So, Christ will raise us from the dead with the same yet glorified bodies when He brings the new heavens and the new Earth down to us. As John writes in his epistle, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). And as Jesus proved to the disciple Thomas, He is a resurrected body, not a ghost. So, a better ending would be on the resurrection from the dead rather than Heaven, which the Scriptures describe as sleeping. Life, especially eternal life, is fully enjoyed when you’re awake, not when you’re sleeping. Gockel does talk about the resurrection, sort of, but he confuses it with Heaven, like most Christians do, when the two are entirely separate things.
Now, despite these flaws, I still recommend this to lay readers, even pastors. Hopefully, the layman is catechised well enough to catch the doctrinal error, but one thing I’ve learnt as a pastor is that sometimes, no matter how well catechised a person is, sometimes they still believe evangelical lies, as evidenced by the author’s own error. But overall, this little booklet is relatable and keeps the reader centred on Christ. If I were to recommend this book to any of my parishioners, I would warn them of the decision theology language used throughout, to remember that it is Christ who accepts us and converts our hearts and not the other way around, and to remember that our final hope is not necessarily dying and going to Heaven but being risen from the dead in the new creation.
Because this brings Jesus from the objective to the subjective, there are many ways in which a person can answer this question. For Gockel, the words he focuses on are life, pardon, peace, power, provision, companionship, hope, truth, assurance, joy, and Heaven. The book is divided up by those words. Because the “chapters” are so short, the book can easily be used as a devotional book. Each little section is expertly relatable to the layman. After reading the preface, I was expecting this book to be one of those sappy, shallow devotional books. But I was immediately captivated by the very first section on Jesus as life. He quotes from Paul in Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ.” Gockel comments on this exceedingly well, “The artist who spends the late and early hours in the company of his paint and brush and canvas may very well say, ‘For me to live is ART.’ The musician who thinks and dreams and speaks of nothing but his music may very well say, ‘For me to live is MUSIC.’ In a similar but in an unspeakably higher sense, I can truly say, ‘For to me to live is CHRIST’!” (p. 1).
As a former professional musician, I immediately grasped what he was saying. I always describe music as my first love. I fell in love with music when I was 8-years-old and started playing the saxophone. Years later, I would play in marching band, my high school’s top concert band, orchestra, pit orchestra, various quartets, and finally professionally in the Army Bands. While I may not be able to play as much as I’d like to as a pastor, music still has a big place in my heart. For me, to live has always been music. I know my dad can relate as well. He recently left everything behind in Illinois to start a music venue in Muskegon, Michigan called The Starlight Room, and it’s been very successful. For my dad as well, to live is music. But most of all for me, to live is CHRIST. There’s a reason why I left my first career as an Army musician to pursue the pastoral office, because I have a deeper love and passion for Christ and His Word. This doesn’t mean everybody who loves Jesus should become a pastor or enter some other kind of professional church work, but the question should be asked, “What, or whom, do I live for?” For every Christian, that answer should be, “I live for Christ, because He lived, died, and rose for me, and He lives for me eternally.”
Also, as a poet, I like that he includes Christian poetry in these reflections, some of which were composed into hymns. Poetry is an under-appreciated genre of literature and art, so I’m glad he included poetry to aid in the reader’s meditation.
One last thing I really appreciate about the book is that although it’s about what Jesus means TO ME, it’s not me-focused, which is a common mistake many evangelical writers make. It is still entirely Christ-centred. He makes many important doctrinal points, and without diving into what doctrine he’s bringing up, they’re short and to the point and easy to understand for any layman.
A few critiques: (1) When Gockel quotes Scripture, he should reference where it’s coming from. This book is definitely intended for laymen, and not every layman is literate in the Scriptures. At times, they may not know he’s quoting Scripture; and even if they do, I’m sure they’d like to know which book of the Bible he’s quoting from. Even for me, I would like to know where exactly he’s quoting in Scripture for both present and future reference. I found myself having to Google pretty much all of them. He does have an index of Bible passages in the back, but it would be more efficient and a lot easier to have them in parentheses right after the quoted verse like everybody else does.
(2) There are a few times when Gockel uses decision theology language. I don’t want to launch into a whole polemic since this is just a book review, but this is not how we Lutherans speak of conversion. Gockel was a Lutheran pastor, so he should’ve known better than to use this language, and it’s surprising this wasn’t caught during CPH’s doctrinal review process. Then again, the first edition of this book was published in 1948, and I think that was before there was a doctrinal review process at CPH. At the same time, however, the edition I read was re-published in 2008, and there definitely was a doctrinal review process at this time, but I guess when you’re re-publishing something, there’s “no need” for a doctrinal review.
In any case, his theology here is inconsistent. For example, he says, “No man is ready to accept Christ as his Savior from hell and damnation until he has felt the hot breath of hell blow over his quivering conscience” (p. 11), and then just two pages later he says, “What I could not do, Christ did for me” (p. 13). Another time, he talks about accepting Christ and then BEING accepted into God’s family. Then later he writes, “I have learned that man, as far as his natural abilities are concerned, is utterly corrupt, completely helpless, and—if left to himself—doomed to an eternal separation from his Maker” (p. 85).
So, which is it? Do we have the ability to make a decision for Jesus, even though we’re dead in sin (and dead people can’t do anything), or does Christ do what we cannot do, which is to make us His? As Lutherans, we always say the latter—it’s all on Christ’s choosing, not our own, since before conversion we only have the capacity to choose sin and death. The problem with decision theology is that if our conversion depends on our “accepting” or “choosing” Christ, our conversion—and therefore our salvation—lies entirely on us and our ability to choose Him. So, when we inevitably fail to choose Him many times throughout our lives, we fall into despair because we’re relying on our feeble power rather than the unfailing and surpassing power of Christ who makes us His own. It is shocking to me that a Lutheran pastor with a Ph.D. would employ such poor theology.
(3) Gockel ends the book with Heaven. A better ending would be the new creation because it’s not Heaven that’s the final goal of the Christian, but the new heavens and the new Earth, that is, the bodily resurrection. I tend to get a lot of pushback when I say this because people think I’m saying Heaven is bad. I don’t think that, and I’ve never said it. Heaven is a good place. Jesus calls it Paradise (Luke 23:43). But Jesus also said Heaven and Earth will pass away (Matthew 24:35). Why? To make room for the new heavens and the new Earth, so you better hope you’re still not in Heaven when it passes away! That’s what the Book of Revelation is all about and why that book is of great comfort to Christians because the end for us is not dying and going to Heaven but being risen from the dead and joining our Lord in the new creation! We are meant to have bodies because God created us with bodies. We are not meant to be bodiless beings.
So, Christ will raise us from the dead with the same yet glorified bodies when He brings the new heavens and the new Earth down to us. As John writes in his epistle, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). And as Jesus proved to the disciple Thomas, He is a resurrected body, not a ghost. So, a better ending would be on the resurrection from the dead rather than Heaven, which the Scriptures describe as sleeping. Life, especially eternal life, is fully enjoyed when you’re awake, not when you’re sleeping. Gockel does talk about the resurrection, sort of, but he confuses it with Heaven, like most Christians do, when the two are entirely separate things.
Now, despite these flaws, I still recommend this to lay readers, even pastors. Hopefully, the layman is catechised well enough to catch the doctrinal error, but one thing I’ve learnt as a pastor is that sometimes, no matter how well catechised a person is, sometimes they still believe evangelical lies, as evidenced by the author’s own error. But overall, this little booklet is relatable and keeps the reader centred on Christ. If I were to recommend this book to any of my parishioners, I would warn them of the decision theology language used throughout, to remember that it is Christ who accepts us and converts our hearts and not the other way around, and to remember that our final hope is not necessarily dying and going to Heaven but being risen from the dead in the new creation.
February 26, 2026
#35 books Read in 2026
“What Jesus Means to Me”
by: Herman W. Gockel 1948
Started 2.25.26 - Finished 2.26.26
Book Format
(#9 read in February)
My godmother, Mrs. J.O. Williams, gave this to me as a young man. I've kept it all these years. It is more of a prayer than a book. Full of scripture and inspiring poems. It brought back a lifetime of memories.
“What Jesus Means to Me”
by: Herman W. Gockel 1948
Started 2.25.26 - Finished 2.26.26
Book Format
(#9 read in February)
My godmother, Mrs. J.O. Williams, gave this to me as a young man. I've kept it all these years. It is more of a prayer than a book. Full of scripture and inspiring poems. It brought back a lifetime of memories.
October 9, 2019
The old language makes this book more challenging but the truths are unchanged.
May 21, 2025
Beautiful reflections on how high, deep and wide the love of Christ is and the hope and peace that brings to the believer.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews