John 1:14 NLT
A theological college in the United States ..... invited to their annual conference, ..... a renowned professor as their ..... guest lecturer. He spoke for two and one-half hours ..... "establishing proofs" ..... that the resurrection of Jesus .... never took place. The professor quoted scholar after scholar and book after book. He concluded that since there was no such thing as.... the historical resurrection, ..... the religious tradition of the church .... was groundless. It was all emotional mumbo-jumbo, ..... because it was based on a relationship with a risen Jesus, who, in fact, ...... never rose from the dead in any literal sense. After this verbal dissertation he moved back from the lectern and asked if there were any questions. After about 30 seconds, ..... an elderly pastor with a head of woolly white hair ...... stood up in the back of the auditorium.
"Doctor Professor,.... I have one question", he said ..... as all eyes turned toward him.
He reached into his sack lunch .... and pulled out an apple and began eating it.
CRUNCH, "My question is a simple question",....CRUNCH, ...... "Now, I have never read those books you've read"...CRUNCH,... "And I can't recite the Scriptures in the original Greek"...CRUNCH,... "I know nothing' about Niebuhr and Heidegger"....CRUNCH, ...He finished the apple. "
All I want to know is: ..... This apple I just ate------was it bitter or was it sweet?"
The professor paused for a moment and answered in a scholarly fashion: ..... "I cannot possibly answer that question, .... for I haven't tasted your apple".
The elderly preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper bag, ..... looked up at the professor and said calmly, .... "Neither have you tasted .... my Jesus."
The 1,000 plus in attendance could not contain themselves; ..... the auditorium erupted with applause and cheers.
The professor thanked his audience and promptly left the platform. (Pause)
Unlike many people who receive Jesus late in life I received Jesus on my mom's knee at a very young age. It's all I've ever known and believed. I've known no other religion or belief. Jesus is part of my whole life. I love Him with my whole heart.
When you think about how much God loves us and that He sent His own son - Jesus (who was God also) to earth to be among us - that is absolutely amazing. God lives with us! Think about that.
Look how Paul speaks of this in Philippians...
“Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.” Philippians 2:5-8 MSG
What God did for us - it is mind boggling. God became human and lived amongst us!
Booker T. Washington was born a slave and later became one of the great educators of our country after the emancipation. He headed the Tuskegee Institute, which flourished under his leadership. In his autobiography, Up from Slavery, he tells a story about his brother: “The most trying ordeal that I was forced to endure as a slave boy. . . was the wearing of a flax shirt. In the portion of Virginia where I lived, it was common to use flax as part of the clothing for the slaves. That part of the flax from which our clothing was made was largely the refuse, which of course was the cheapest and roughest part. I can scarcely imagine any torture, except, perhaps, the pulling of a tooth, that is equal to that caused by putting on a new flax shirt for the first time. It is almost equal to the feeling that one would experience if he had a dozen or more chestnut burrs, or a hundred small pin-points, in contact with his flesh. . . . But I had no choice. I had to wear the flax shirt or none. . . . My brother John, who is several years older than I am, performed one of the most generous acts that I ever heard of one slave relative doing for another. On several occasions when I was being forced to wear a new flax shirt, he generously agreed to put it on in my stead and wear it for several days, till it was ‘broken in.’”
Jesus Christ is our elder brother who has come alongside of us to take on the roughness of the world on our behalf. He has put on our shirt — experienced what we experienced, walked where we have walked, and eased the pain of life. He is willing to place our suffering and pain on his own back.
As I write this, I am again amazed with wonder and thankful, so thankful, that God loved me and you so much that He came to live among us. Think about that. Let it amaze and fill you with wonder. Be thankful and glad in your heart for the amazing thing that God has done for the whole world.
Have you tasted my Jesus?
No comments:
Post a Comment