Responding to Jesus
by Charles Bertelsmeier
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Then Pharisees called the high council together. ‘What are we going to do? If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him’ (John 11:47,48).
Have you ever wondered why you hold the views you do – on religion, politics, sports teams? There are many people in the world with different beliefs to you, so they cannot all be correct. And does it matter anyway? When it comes to our faith, I would suggest it does matter since it impacts how you live your life here on earth and where you will spend eternity.
You would expect that if a God created this universe and the life on this planet and had a plan for every person, he would reveal this information to us. Well, I believe he has in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. This Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and that he was there at the beginning of time and space to bring this universe and life and humans into existence. And he attempted to prove his claim by performing some impressive miracles, including bringing dead people back to life. I believe we have only three options as to who this Jesus was. (1) He was part of the best confidence trick ever played on people, (2) he was deluded and insane, or (3) he was who he claimed to be. (You may think of other options, but I believe they might fall roughly into these three categories.)
If you don’t accept that Jesus was a liar, deluded or insane, you will face the issue that he made some strong pronouncements that will impact your life and require changes to how you live. You can accept that you fall way short of God’s standard of what is acceptable to him. You can receive Jesus’ work of rescue for you. You can entrust your life to a loving Heavenly Father. Or you can decide that you don’t want anyone controlling your life but want to live it how you think is the most satisfying for you. This was the position of the leading priests and Pharisees in Jesus’ day. They didn’t like what Jesus was telling them, and their solution was to silence Jesus, and that meant having to kill him. When we don’t want to hear Jesus’ message to us, I think we, too, try to silence or weaken Jesus’ message. For me, one way is to be busy doing something I enjoy (at least to some extent). Or I can surround myself with ideas and environments that water down Jesus’ claims or explain them away.
Do you really trust that God loves you unconditionally and sacrificially and only wants what is best for you? Do you trust him enough to unconditionally surrender your life to him?
Heavenly Father, I sometimes struggle to really believe that you know what is best for me. Thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit working in my life to grow my trust in you and your love for me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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