The last post I wrote focused on the question "do we love Jesus, or do we mostly just love the stuff He gives us?" In the last couple weeks, I haven't really stopped thinking about that question. We celebrated His resurrection on Easter last weekend, and the question ran through my mind almost nonstop. Earlier today someone told me that the number of prophecies and predictions that Jesus fulfilled was large enough that you'd have a better chance of filling the entire state of Texas 12 inches deep with quarters and picking the right coin out of the bunch than having one man's life so accurately fulfill all those prophecies.
When it comes to facts like that, part of me loves them and another part doesn't like them much at all. I understand the point - there are people who have logical objections to the idea that the Son of God came to earth, born of a virgin, lived roughly 33 years, was executed and was raised back to life. I have no such objections, and the fact that I don't is due at least in part to cool facts like the one above about all the quarters in Texas. I'm convinced! I would bet my life on it.
But here's the problem - the initial decision to follow Jesus is an obvious one once the facts are examined, but it's not enough. If you had two buses in front of you and somehow you knew with 100% certainty that one bus would crash and one wouldn't, you would get on the non-crashing bus. But that doesn't guarantee you would want to know how the bus got there, or would feel compelled to become best friends with its driver.
When it comes to Christianity, while I might initially climb onto the bus simply because I'm fully convinced that Jesus is telling the truth about who He is, I also understand that He has provided the opportunity for us to experience infinitely more than a safe ride to eternity. He created us for total commitment to Him in the context of a passionate love relationship. The kind of relationship that allows us to consider everything that is good about our lives as trash compared with the greatness of knowing Him. And I know I'm not there. Over the past three decades I've sung lyrics like "I love you Jesus, more than anything" and "Oh, how I love Jesus", and I wonder how true it is. I certainly want it to be true, but if I'm honest, it's often not the case.
Great coaches knowthat providing information and knowledge to athletes is necessary, but that optimal performance is possible only when the athlete is reached at a heart level. I'm praying that God will connect my brain with my heart more completely as I seek to understand just how wonderful this bus ride is supposed to be.
80's Lyric
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