Jesus. Do you know Him? Do you know about Him?
How can one name, one person, one story, have so much power today? We literally tell time by Him, BC & AD; we either swear by His name or we call to Him as Savior; we even celebrate His Birthday as national holiday; so how does a man who lived and died 2018 years ago still have undeniable power today?
Honestly, the implications of Easter are still weighing heavily on my heart and mind, and for the past month or so, I have truly been pressing into what I believe and why I believe it. Is Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, truly the Son of God with the power to forgive sins even today?
In the next few months, I will be leaving the country with the sole purpose of sharing the Gospel (the good news of Christ) with others and living it out wherever we may be. The reality is as a believer, this is my purpose no matter where I am, even in my current 8 to 5 routine, but I would say planning to leave everything I have ever known or found comfortable to spend my life for what I believe is truth abroad definitely calls it into question.
You see, I have been and am looking forward to spending my life in its entirety for the Lord and His Kingdom, which means giving Him full control of it all: my relationships, my future dreams, my dating, my finances, my hobbies, my stuff, my speech, my hopes, my tears, my food, my clothing, my entertainment, my time, and simply every decision that makes up who I am. Following Christ truly means going all in.
In short…If He is not real…If He did not rise…Then I am a fool to pitied most of all!
Because I gave and am giving Him everything.
- The Apostle Paul puts it this way, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith if futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied! BUT Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” –1 Corinthians 15:14-21
I won’t transcribe the entire Bible and all that was promised and all that was fulfilled (backed up; witnessed; preserved) in one blog. And if the Bible is false, then I am an even larger fool who threw her life away to a god that man made up. The reality, the gravity, and the immense influence of this personal choice to believe and be saved by Jesus is what makes Him so powerful even to this day.
Following Christ is certainly not a crutch or “the easy way out.” If He did not rise I am a fool, and if I live my life half in, only giving Him a few aspects of my life, I am a fraud. I say this only to point towards the weight of this choice that I have made. BUT I believe with all my heart that He did rise, that He came lived a perfect life and backed up everything He said He would do, because He is the Son of God with the power to forgive my sins.
This is not blind or wishful thinking. I know I am giving Him my everything and have looked closely into the evidence. With joy and confidence, I can tell you there is ample evidence to reasonably believe in Jesus as Lord. Jesus says that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life so you can test Him in this. I love CS Lewis’ quote that Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord, because there truly is no middle ground with Him—He directly claims to be God.
My fear in sharing what I have been wrestling with is not that you will prove me to be a fool, but rather that you won’t even investigate the issue of Jesus and of Easter. “Seek Him and you will find Him.”
On a personal note, if you begin this search into who Jesus is by requiring a sign in exchange for your belief, you risk walking away very disappointed. Jesus addresses this issue head on to the crowds that were following Him who had seen Him work miracles and listened to His teaching and still wanted a “sign” in John 6. Really what it boils down to is the evidence will not make your decision for you. There is no miracle, fact, or reasoning that will simply determine your faith for you, we have the Lord in His goodness to thank for that because He gave us free-will.
So search, seek after Him, and determine if He is truth! It is a journey that I have been on for quite some time now. I have found what I was looking for with enough confidence to give Him my everything and now enough confidence to spend my life pointing to Christ and to Christ alone.
Sorry for the length of this one! There has been so much on my heart in preparing to leave for the World Race. At the bottom, I included some resources that I have gone through for determining if the Bible is true, if God is real, and if He is worth my everything.
Please partner with me in praying over my team as we prepare to leave. It is seriously getting real as we discuss packing lists, what God has been doing in our lives, and what our hopes are for the Race. Please also join me in praying for the lives that we will encounter and for the truth of Christ to invade. I would also appreciate prayer over my own walk with the Lord. I am being challenged so much to live out what I know now, and struggling with fears and insecurities I didn’t know were so deep.
PRAISE REPORT! God is truly so Good and so Sweet to me! You have truly blessed me, and I have reached my first fundraising checkpoint. I needed $5,000 by May and I could have never imagined how God would move. Also, praises for a community of believers that is consistently challenging me in my faith and for a fluffy orange cat that greets me when I get home after work.
Please comment and share. I would love to discuss more of my heart in this or look more specifically into the big questions. Hope some of these resources will either affirm or challenge your thinking and be a blessing. Happy late Easter as well!
Resources:
Case for Christ by Lee Strobel
4 Chair Discipling by Dann Spader
https://www.northcoastchurch.com/messages/09-jesus-blind-faith/
–Takes a broad look at the evidence for God and for Jesus
https://www.northcoastchurch.com/messages/06-can-we-trust-the-bible/
–Specifically looks at historicity and evidence outside of the Bible that affirms it
https://www.northcoastchurch.com/messages/01-a-holiday-for-flowers-fools/
–Looks at the different crowds that encounter Jesus and the Resurrection
http://www.freshlife.church/messages/message.php?id=856
–Completes a series on the claims of Christ—who He said He was as it is recorded
http://www.theporch.live/messages/5340
–Explores what God says about Heaven and Hell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPIOkdNL-QQ
–The Gospel message by Eric Ludy
Passages I dug into when writing this blog:
John 4—Woman at the well…“We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the World.”
John 1:39—Come and you will see…..Rabbi to Messiah
Isaiah 43:1-13—God alone saves
1 Corinthians 15:14 (1 Corinthians 15:12-33)—Resurrection
1 Corinthians 15:1-10—The Gospel: Paul’s words
John 20:30-31—The purpose of John’s Gospel
John 14:6—I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life
John 20:24-29—Thomas’ story
Luke 16:27-31—Lazarus story
John 6:28-40—Wanting a sign. “But as I told you, you have seen me and still do not believe.
https://blogs.gcu.edu/colangelo-college-of-business/time-just-much-worth/
https://blogs.gcu.edu/spiritual-life/weekly-devotional-time-flies/
https://blogs.gcu.edu/spiritual-life/weekly-devotional-treasure-great/
