sophomore day #173

Why do you believe? 


Christ is not easy to believe in. It's hard to believe in Christ.
I've been reading through John (and we're doing a series on it in church), and to be honest, I'm afraid to think I wouldn't believe in Christ if I were living back then. He frequently sounds, like a raging lunatic.
He said things like, 

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:13-14

and

Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, "... I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him [God] and he sent me.” John 7:29-30

and

But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.” John 8:23-24

This guy just 'appears' and starts claiming all these things about eternal life, condemnation, seeing the kingdom of God, being sent from God, being His son.
Let's be honest.
He. sounds. crazy.

Christ is hard to believe in.
A lot of people today say that if they saw 'signs' of Christ, they would believe him. But think of all the people: the pharisees, the Jews, that saw him perform miracle after miracle, and still did not believe. They knew the Old Testament better than anyone else, what was supposed to testify of Christ, and still they did not believe.
And even while I'm reading the Bible, reading about the accounts of his miraculous works, am skeptical that I would have believed.

Christ is not an easy thing to believe in.
And he never made it easy.
The crazy thing is, He says it over and over: "he who believes has everlasting life", "whoever believes in him shall not perish", "everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life", "he who feeds on this bread will live forever".
All you gotta do is believe!! But you're believing in something crazy!

But that's just it. It's something out of this world.

"I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?"

Jesus speaks of the Spirit. The Spirit of life in the midst of a world that is passing away. You must be born again, born of the Spirit. "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I [Jesus] have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life." "God is spirit." John 6:63, John 4:24a
It's not about the things of this earth. It's not about the life on this earth. It's so much greater than that. It's about eternal life. Full life. Life where we will never be hungry or thirsty again. True life. We're believing in something extraordinary. And, really crazy.

Why do I believe?
Because there's nothing that the world offers me, no life that I can get. I have life through the Spirit, life through Christ. That's what I seek. The Spirit of life in the midst of a world that is passing away.
Christ is hard to believe in, but He's the best thing you could possibly believe in. And all you gotta do.....is believe.

“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6: 67-69

THE END.
02.08.2015