Jesus and You
Matthews gospel records,
“At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.” Matthew 11:25,26.
Many wise and intelligent men and women around the world do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. That Jesus is God incarnate. They quite often say “why would God choose to come into his creation” or “Why would God want to send His Son to die for those he created? It doesn’t make sense.”
I as a Christian believe anyone who thinks that way is putting God in a box. They are defining God by human standards. God is not obligated to do things the way man thinks He should.
In the gospel of John Jesus is recorded as saying,
“The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” John 10:24-32
Jesus claims to be one with God. God incarnate. He tells the crowd he is one with God. Something considered blasphemy in his day. Something that was punishable by death. In fact John records that the people he spoke to wanted to stone him for what he had said.
Jesus was aware of that claiming to be one with God could have got him put to death. Yet he still claimed to be one with God. He did so because it was true, whether the people he spoke to believed it or not.
C. S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity states,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
The claims of Jesus are admittedly hard to accept. The apostle Paul even said,
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18
Simply put as I said, God does not do things the way man thinks he should do things.
God could have come with his angels and shown himself to all mankind at the same time. But God knows that would not make true followers. True followers are those who believe in Him even if they have not seen Him the writer of Hebrews stating,
“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”
Sometimes we have to be like little children who accept things by faith. Something we as adults many times find hard to do.
God loves His creation. God loves each individual and wants us to truly believe in Him. That is why God came to earth in the form of Jesus, His one and Only Son.
C. S. Lewis points out.
“He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less.” C.S. Lewis.
Yes it defies mans logic. But God is not man. God wants men and women who have faith in Him because God knows people of faith are the strongest of followers.
Thus the question is, do you believe in God?
Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God, The Saviour of mankind?
Please think about it.
Matthews gospel records,
“At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.” Matthew 11:25,26.
Many wise and intelligent men and women around the world do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. That Jesus is God incarnate. They quite often say “why would God choose to come into his creation” or “Why would God want to send His Son to die for those he created? It doesn’t make sense.”
I as a Christian believe anyone who thinks that way is putting God in a box. They are defining God by human standards. God is not obligated to do things the way man thinks He should.
In the gospel of John Jesus is recorded as saying,
“The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” John 10:24-32
Jesus claims to be one with God. God incarnate. He tells the crowd he is one with God. Something considered blasphemy in his day. Something that was punishable by death. In fact John records that the people he spoke to wanted to stone him for what he had said.
Jesus was aware of that claiming to be one with God could have got him put to death. Yet he still claimed to be one with God. He did so because it was true, whether the people he spoke to believed it or not.
C. S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity states,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
The claims of Jesus are admittedly hard to accept. The apostle Paul even said,
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18
Simply put as I said, God does not do things the way man thinks he should do things.
God could have come with his angels and shown himself to all mankind at the same time. But God knows that would not make true followers. True followers are those who believe in Him even if they have not seen Him the writer of Hebrews stating,
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for
and certain of what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1
“And without faith it is impossible to please God,
because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists
and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6
As Jesus said,“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”
Sometimes we have to be like little children who accept things by faith. Something we as adults many times find hard to do.
God loves His creation. God loves each individual and wants us to truly believe in Him. That is why God came to earth in the form of Jesus, His one and Only Son.
C. S. Lewis points out.
“He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less.” C.S. Lewis.
Yes it defies mans logic. But God is not man. God wants men and women who have faith in Him because God knows people of faith are the strongest of followers.
Thus the question is, do you believe in God?
Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God, The Saviour of mankind?
Please think about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment