(My Great-Great-Great-Great Ancestor)
The story is told of a former chaplain at Harvard who had students drop by his office every so often for casual chats. Often the conversation would turn to God and before long, the student would come clean with the real reason for the visit. “I don’t believe in God,” they would announce firmly. The seasoned chaplain would give this disarming response: “Stay a minute and tell me what kind of God you don’t believe in. I probably don’t believe in that God either.”
The trouble with God is that He’s not us! Not trying to be funny here, but the Bible says that God is a spirit – a Holy Spirit actually. Persons who have seen Him are rare, but those fortunate enough to live in the New Testament times did “see” God. The first chapter of John tells us that the Word was God and the Word was made flesh and lived among us and people literally saw His glory. So there was actually a time in history when God was both seeable and touchable. They called Him Jesus, by the way.
There are, of course, those who contend that there is no God; but any sincere person, pursuing truth, can absolutely come to the solid and positive conclusion that God is indeed very real. Jeremiah 29:13 tells us that when we seek Him, we will find Him when we search for Him with our whole hearts!
So what’s the problem here? Why aren’t more people searching for God? It seems to me that most would rather spend time searching for the best new Nike tennis shoes for their sports-minded kid, or dish out their time searching out the perfect new color for their kitchen remodel, or even squander 20+ hours each week playing video games, than spend even one hour confirming the existence of Almighty God. As someone once said, “The atheist can’t find God for the same reason that a thief can’t find a policeman!” Pretty true!!
It’s pretty easy these days to get on-line and check out reasons to believe. You can find amazing scientific arguments for the existence of God, and you don’t have to be a literary genius to do so, just a seeker of truth.
So let’s check out just a few points I found on-line concerning the reality of God that are pretty much no-brainers: Matter Demands a Maker, Life Demands a Life-Giver, Design Demands a Designer, and my favorite – Intelligence Demands an Intelligent Creator! Listen – my ancient ancestor was not a tadpole – my ‘eyeball design’ alone attests to that fact.
(My Great-Great-Great-Great Ancestor)
Back to Jesus: how exactly does He fit into this picture? When checking into world religions, one finds that neither Buddha nor Confucius nor Muhammad claimed to be God or even equal to God – they all identified themselves as teachers or prophets. Only Jesus claimed to be part of the Godhead.
Only Jesus led a sinless life, so only Jesus could go to the cross of Calvary and lay down His life as a true sacrifice for ours! Therefore, only Jesus can offer you and I eternal life because only Jesus paid the price for the gift of eternal salvation, so only Jesus can offer that gift to us!! As Acts 4:12 puts it: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Lee Strobel has a fabulous message from Romans 6:23 that he likes to call, “God’s Best One-Liner.” That one-liner verse, in a nutshell, perfectly describes the God that the Harvard chaplain explained to those skeptical students: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Yes, He really loves us that much!
Bob and Susan Beckett Pastor The Dwelling Place City Church at 27100 Girard Street in Hemet. For more information, visit them at: www.dpcitychurch.com.
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