The Reality Of Jesus

“That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return.”

2 Timothy 1:12 (NLT)

For those of us who have been raised in church, we kind of take Jesus for granted. We’ve heard about Him our whole lives.  We’ve heard people talk about Him. We’ve heard ministers preach about Him. Our parents have told us about Him. So we’ve always thought that He was real.

But how do we know He’s real?

We read in Matthew 16:13-17, “When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ ‘Well,’ they replied, ‘some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets’. Then he asked them, ‘Who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God’. Jesus replied, ‘You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.’”

Jesus wasn’t walking around trying to convince Peter or anyone else that He was the Son of God. He wasn’t continually telling people,  “I’m the Son of God. I really am, I really, really, really, really am the Son of God!”  In essence, Jesus was telling Peter, “I don’t care about everyone else’s opinion, but I do care about yours. Who do you think I am?”

Knowing that Jesus is the Son of God is more than just being convinced, and more than just being logically persuaded. Jesus told Peter that human logic didn’t convince him of this, but the Father revealed it to him. Peter had heard truth and reality from God, and that was something he was never going to forget.

The reality of Jesus must be the basis of our faith. He must be the basis of our Christianity. Anything else that contradicts that living, breathing reality, is false – in the face of all logic, in the face of all blasphemers, in the face of everyone who mocks us and makes fun of us. If we know Jesus is real, nothing else matters.

Prayer

Father, I recognize you and your son, Jesus. I believe you love me and sent Jesus to die for my sins, and that he was raised to life three days later. I believe that your Holy Spirit lives in me, and I commit my life to living for you.

Amen

 Study by Fraser Murdoch