Good News

Well, I think I have told most people by now, but I am going to be a dad come February. I'm so excited for that change that is coming. I'm not sure if you're ever totally ready, but I feel pretty ready.

I inserted  picture to the right... I think he/she looks like me!

Faith = Seeing?

I have been wrestling with the passage that I am teaching on this weekend. I am teaching out of Hebrews 11:1 and finishing our series on Childlike Faith (called Wide Eyed Wonder). The passage in Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. As I looked at the meaning of the words 'sure' and 'certain' in the Greek, I was even more confused...

The KJV translation of passage is "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (by the way, I don't usually side with the KJV translation, but in this case I think might have gotten it). See, they translated faith as evidence. At first that doesn't make any sense, in fact, it seems like circular reasoning. But then I ran across this C.S. Lewis quote... I think he nailed what this passage means and is getting at. 

Lewis (in The Weight of Glory) wrote, "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." In this sense, faith is evidence. It is seeing. It is seeing God's invisible attributes through the things that he has made (Rm 1:20).  Faith doesn't create something in and of itself, it sees what is really there... lying almost eerily just beneath the surface - waiting and wanting to be exposed. 

They Like Jesus 2

As a college staff we are continuing to go through the book, They Like Jesus But Not the Church. As previously posted, I highly recommend the book. This week we read a chapter where Dan Kimball interviews people and asks them what they think about Jesus. Some of the adjectives they used to describe him were: powerful, good teacher, moral, loving, beautiful, etc. I read the comments that most of these people made and I thought that I could easily be listening to someone who was a follower (and a strong follower at that) of Jesus Christ. Yet, non of the people professed to be Christians. 

I have to ask the question... why not? If Jesus is that captivating to people, why aren't they followers? I think that the people Kimball chose to interview represent a pretty accurate view of people's perceptions of Jesus. I hear many of the same responses when out am out on the local campuses. So the question ruminates in me. Honestly, I don't have an answer. I know that Kimball's conclusion is that they are turned off by the church. I'm not sure that I buy that as the sole reason... especially since most of their conclusions about church seem to be drawn from television evangelists. This is a question that I will be thinking about for a while.

One of the reasons that come to mind is that it is easy to look upon someone or something and find it attractive or beautiful, yet not be willing to pay the price to have the thing. I think that people realize the beauty of Jesus, yet they also recognize (maybe more fully) what it demands to follow him. I think its the same thing that happened to the rich young man (Luke 18). He had seen the glory of Jesus, yet he was unwilling to forsake all to follow. 

Whatever the reason, I am once again encouraged that people are far more open to Jesus than I give them credit for.