Feb 22, 2022
Do you know someone who thinks Jesus was imaginary? I heard a friend one time tell a story about a cousin from Europe who thought that Jesus was like the Easter bunny or Santa Claus. Jesus was just a figment of our imagination. Some people in our world feel that way, but there are many eyewitness accounts of Jesus.
Hey, I'm Mike Henry Sr. With Follower of One. Welcome back to our podcast.
We've been talking through this introduction to the gospel of John and he gives us this eyewitness testimony of his relationship with Jesus. He recounts his testimony for us in John, one verses 14 and 15:
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about Him and cried out, This was Ge of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me because He was before me.'"
Once again, that's John 1:14-15 from the English Standard Version.
John, the apostle wraps up this first-person account of who Jesus is by tying his account back to John the Baptist, and back to the introduction in this book when he refers to Him as "the Word." "The Word was with God," before anything was created, and "the Word became flesh," that's Jesus. John, the Baptist also talked about this. Some consider his testimony to be a confirmation that Jesus existed before creation as well.
John, the apostle is on the record and John, the Baptist is on the record. Many we know don't believe. They think you're silly for believing Jesus lived or much less than he was God. Many believed that he was just a wise man.
But what can we do? Can we argue them into submission? Can we sneak our beliefs into every conversation or try to sneak it into conversations? Can we legislate the Word of God and force people to agree with us?
Our job is to live differently. We have different facts. And when we live obeying Jesus, our world struggles for an explanation. That's why it's so important for us to be able to explain reasonably why we follow Jesus. There are so many things we can say to people who don't believe, but when we do a good job or when we're a good employee or a good coworker or a good friend, and we hold these seemingly crazy beliefs, our life creates a problem for our coworkers and our customers and our vendors and our friends.
If we believe John and we believe that Jesus was God in human flesh, we have a job to do. Our job is to live life differently and be able to explain why. I don't see any promises in scripture that our life is going to be so much better than anyone else's life here on earth.
I think it's our job to be an example of every hardship and every problem that you can experience. There must be a godly way to do that. And I believe Jesus, equips us to be that person for some people in the experiences that we have.
Today, let's ask God to show us how we can live our lives and help others see Jesus. That's our job. I often begin with prayer. I want to tell God that I work for Him today. I mentioned this yesterday as well. I also want to look for ways to appreciate other people. We are all in the same boat. We are either with God or without God, and those who are without God need us to live differently.
Will you join us today? Check out Follower of One. Join our online community at https://community.followerofone.org and become part of a group of believers who are helping one another live our faith on a daily basis. There's no charge.
We do things like Marketplace Mission Trips, as ways of practicing what we believe. The next Marketplace Mission Trip starts in just a couple of weeks.
Check it out at https://community.followerofone.org. Thanks very much.