Dear Luke,
I respect the dedication with which
you tackle these questions of faith. But
I believe you are putting the proverbial cart before the horse in some
respects. Not that I want to discard
your curiosities about how difficult faith must be, but you’re thinking through
this in such a cerebral manner that you’re forgetting that what Jesus asks of
his followers is a conversion of the heart; this change then leads the
Christian out into the world and transforms their actions. What Jesus takes the Pharisees to task for is
the fact that they have the actions without the heartfelt passion for God. What you are wrestling with (rightly, I
believe) is the enormity of the life of the disciple—but I have found that
those who choose to follow Jesus find many of these actions easier because
their hearts have been transformed by a love of God, and once that
transformation happens, it’s easier to undertake actions that might otherwise
not make sense.
Perhaps I’m not wording this well,
but your motivations in life change when you make the decision to follow
Christ. The way I see the world is
different because I have chosen to be a disciple, and in so doing many of the
things you are struggling with are not as much of a struggle because I believe
that my life has been changed by selfless love, and I should therefore share
selfless love. I’m not saying that it’s
easy to love my enemies, and it’s often a tremendous challenge to follow the
commands of Christ, but I’m not often in a position of rationalizing it
according to the standards of the world and the life I used to know; I often
just do it, knowing that it’s the loving thing to do and trusting that it’s
what Christ would have me do, even if it doesn’t always make complete sense to
the outsider.
I hope this clarifies some of the
questions you are asking. I know that it
may not, but I want you to understand that once your heart has been transformed
by the incredible love of God, it will change the way you see the world and the
way you act towards your family, your friends and even your enemies. It changes us, Luke, and just because you
can’t necessarily make sense of it now doesn’t mean you’ll always struggle with
it, and just because it seems daunting now doesn’t mean that it will always
intimidate you so.
New life is given to those who
choose to follow Jesus, and throughout Jesus’ ministry he proved himself
capable of reviving life within those who have passed away. It’s an amazing miracle that surely astounded
the masses, but I find it just as incredible as the times that he restored life
to a heart that was dead in faith—for I believe that such a gift provides
everlasting benefits, while the revival of life will only sustain the
individual until death comes near once more.
Such an event happened in the town
of Nain. With all the miracles Jesus
performed, there wasn’t much chance of Jesus going anywhere without an
entourage. The disciples and a large
crowd accompanied him there, and near the town gate a dead man was being
carried out. They soon learned that it
was the only son of a widow, meaning that this widow would have no worldly
support now. Her situation was
desperate, and the large crowd from the town must have had an extra dose of
sorrow as they grieved the loss of her son.
Jesus, moved by compassion for such
a situation as this, went to the widow and said a strange thing to her: Don’t
weep. It’s not the type of thing we
would expect to say to a woman deep in mourning, but Jesus has a way of
providing hope when there appears to be none.
Just as he gives any believer hope in the face of death, he offers this
woman hope, even though it is not apparent that there is any for her.
From this he went and touched the
bier, a strange thing for any Jewish man to do, for such an act would make him
unclean and surely brought a hushed silence to the crowd. Those who knew of Jesus’ acts may have been
expecting a miracle while others probably assumed that the man was just
crazy. They didn’t have much time to
draw their conclusions because Jesus soon spoke directly to the bier, saying,
“Rise, young man.”
Jaws must have dropped at the sound
of Jesus speaking such words to a dead man, and I wonder if even those who knew
the incredible power of Jesus dared to believe that such a thing could
happen. The woman must have been confused,
wondering if the charade existed merely to deepen her pain, but amazingly
enough, the young man sat up and began to speak.
His words were lost, drowned in the
wave of noise that enveloped the town. I believe that some fainted, while the
widow somehow managed to maintain her balance—but she did not find words to
describe her great joy. Her life, too,
had been restored, and when Jesus handed the boy to her there was not a dry eye
in the crowd as they watched her wrap that boy in an embrace. Jesus could not help but beam in joy as he
watched restoration unfold before him, and people could scarcely believe what
they had just witnessed.
Before long the crowd’s emotions
turned to fear, for the amazing power of Jesus was apparent to all. They began to glorify God for rising a
prophet up in their midst, and they cried out with joy that God’s favor shined
down on his people. Reports about Jesus
continued to spread throughout Judea and everywhere else—you can’t expect
people to keep quiet about a scene, and so often the conversation was focused
on Jesus rather than the scene that took place.
There were more opinions about him than anyone could have counted,
because so many struggled to understand just who he was.
You and I are in the same place
today, Luke. We have the reports of the
amazing things Jesus has done. We have
heard about the incredible restoration that has gripped the hearts and minds of
believers throughout history and in our world today—we have seen people so
gripped by the power of Jesus they were scarcely able to speak. We have seen people come back from situations
that were like death, from addictions and other imprisoning situations. They come back to the amazement of all,
thanks to the restoring power of Jesus.
While my story is not as dramatic, I can say with confidence that I am
restored to life, that I have found abundant and rich and everlasting life in
Jesus, and my heart beats with joy at the thought of his name. But there are many different opinions, and
each must decide for themselves whether they will choose to be a disciple. They must choose or not to fall in love with
him, and let Jesus raise them to new life.
May your own decision become clear as we continue.
Sincerely,
Theophilus
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