Having just returned from Morocco, it becomes clearer to me how awkward it can be to tell a Muslim (or a Jew) or a secularist what I really believe about Jesus. It can feel insensitive to say, 'Yes, I actually think Jesus intends to be your Savior, too, even though you don't agree with that.' It also strikes me like a two-by-four how easy it is to share and believe and proclaim here than it is almost anywhere on the globe.
The awkwardness of proclaiming Jesus as Savior is as old as the first century. Those who heard that claim in Jesus' day would have grimaced at the notion that a human being was ascribing God-hood to himself. Julius Caesar was called 'savior of the whole world. Nero, infamous for his persecution of Christians, was known as the 'savior and benefactor of the whole world.' Our dilemma in a multi-cultural world is nothing new.
Those early believers didn't think in some of the complex theological terms we deal in now. They never described Jesus as 'fully divine and yet fully human.' They just accepted what He had to bring. They expressed their belief in the most daring and risky ways that Jesus was far more than a human being. And many of them died for it. Many still are.
In a day where our American lives are hardly at stake for making such a claim, we should do no less. In fact, we should do much much more.
And be blessed.
1 comment:
I believe with all of my heart that if more people knew the truth...that Jesus performed all of these miracles and rose from the dead, then they would also believe that He was God in the flesh. I never knew all of this till I went to KFA. When they said he was the Son of God, I thought we are all children of GOd. What is the big deal? But He IS God....most of us pray to God. It made a huge difference in my life. Maybe to others, too.
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