Greetings dear readers! We’ve been pondering the metaphor that life is a journey and our goal is to determine the best way to travel. To grasp the landscape and the rules of the road for our journey we posited a series of If questions (see “The Big IFs” blog) which basically stated that if there is a Creator of the universe that offers us a wonderful eternal life and if how we live now affects our future status, then how should we live our life?
Before proceeding with answering that important question, we must be scientific and validate our assumptions. Thus, the next step would be to verify that these if statements are in fact true. In the previous blog, we discussed the overwhelming scientific evidence for the existence of a Creator. Now we must address the question, what kind of Creator do we have? Is our Creator some kind of super powerful Force or do we have a Creator that is Personal?
It would take a book not a blog to address all the different variations and permutations put forth by mankind so I’ll skip to the bottom line on one intriguing possibility. The entire Christian faith hinges on the belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And, well…this belief is either factually correct or false. There is no third option. It’s the ultimate, “Ripley’s Believe It or Not.”
Interestingly, it’s a question Jesus posed to His disciples and the question is still valid today, “Who do the people say that I am?” (Mark 8:27 / Matt 16:13) Every human being who has heard of Jesus must give a verdict. Choosing to ignore the question is a verdict as well. We all must choose.
Jesus claimed to be the Son of God: “I and the Father are One.” (John 10:30) “…If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.” (John 14:9) “Before Abraham was, I Am.” (John 8:58) and the grand finale when asked if He was the Messiah, He responded, “I Am. And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:62).
Who would make such claims!? This is about a dozen standard deviations out from the bell curve of normal human behavior. Only the most disturbed pathological liar, or a crazed lunatic missing all his chicken nuggets from his happy meal could make such boasts. Liar or Lunatic–those are not pleasant options. There is a third possibility. These astounding claims are Legitimate. The statements are true and Jesus is Lord! He is the Son of God and He proved that through His death and resurrection–an event that He foretold. Jesus told his disciples that He would die and come back to life and He pulled it off to their shock and amazement.
It is the most dramatic event since the creation of the world! It declares Christ’s victory over death and resets and restores our relationship with God, our personal, heavenly Father. It is what Christians celebrate every Easter and inspires all believers with the incredible hope that we have. It answers and confirms our “If” question by validating how this universe operates as explained in one very famous verse, John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Amen!
But what about other faiths? Do they not also lead to a fulfilling eternal life? First, I’ll let Jesus answer that question when He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)
That’s clearly exclusive. Truth often is. Let’s give an accompanying illustration. You are the parent of an only child–a son. A deadly viral pandemic spreads throughout the earth that is 100% fatal. Everyone exposed to the virus will die and the entire human population faces extinction. Scientists have discovered something in your child’s blood that can produce a vaccine that would save the world. In order to produce this vaccine, your child must die.
To save the human race, you must sacrifice your son.
Would you do it? Well, you certainly would not even consider it if there were other options. Do you think that Jesus Christ would choose to die for us, if there was another way for our salvation? There was only one solution. There is only one path.
Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ!
There is a Creator of the universe. He is God, our Father and through His Son, Jesus Christ we have the opportunity of a wonderful and fulfilling eternal life. This incredible journey does not start when we die. It begins when we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord. This journey has already started or it can start today! And from this day forward, our mission and guiding life strategy is to simply obey His two word command, “Follow Me.”
It’s that simple.
Now, there’s a “how” aspect to Christ’s command. How do we follow Him? It’s not complicated, but it takes complete dedication. We’ll be discussing the how in our next series of blogs. Until then, have a blessed weekend!
