Jesus is fun and everyone has their own story of how they personally came to Him. In a theological sense, we’re also married to him. Scripture says we as a Church are the Bride of Christ. So, over your years together, you might feel you know Him pretty well.. but do ya?
Did Jesus have a favorite color? (Blue and green, He made so much of it)
If Jesus lived in Kaua’i ..would he drive a Toyota? ( no, a Honda, because the Bible says Jesus and the apostles were all in one Accord)
Would he wear a bracelet? Remember the ones with beads that spelled out WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do) His might be WWID. (Pastor joke)
To know Jesus is to know His witnesses. The writer, Apostle Luke, from his very first verses, wanted to know everything about this Jesus Christ. In fact, he says that, right at the beginning.
Luke chapter one "Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, exactly as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”
As I have shared before, this might have been research for Paul’s court case before the Roman authorities. It is very, very, well researched, with countless witness interviews, archeological facts, place names, and cultural explanations. It was not a guessing of what happened. It is the truth of what happened. Luke laid it out concisely and clearly.
He was not thinking that two thousand years later, some supposed theologians would question his witnesses and his accounts. It was fact.
People, who not believing miracles decide, ” Well when they said they saw him heal leprosy, they meant it in an emotional way, he identified with the healing.”
No, the witnesses meant what they shared. “the arm was all juicy, and then Jesus touched it and now it is perfectly healed, juice gone, man healed and happy!”
These were the witnesses who knew Jesus personally and studied him daily for the rest of their lives. His presence created an unquenchable fire to learn more about, well, everything.
It is interesting. Research suggests that by age twenty-five our brains tend to get "lazy." It's not that our gray cells can no longer learn new things, but rather we rely on a set number of neuro pathways to do our thinking. In other words, we get stuck in a brain rut, like getting your truck stuck in the mud..it takes a little something to get out of it.
As we get older, we tend to believe the cliché "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" because we've seen many examples proving it to be somewhat accurate. There are people out there who don't know how to use a smartphone, shop online, or use what’s it called? VENMO? It is not because they don't have access to the know-how but rather because they have come to believe that they are too old to learn. Many older people have a hard time learning new things but it is not because of their age. It is because they make the conscious decision to stop learning even though they may not realize it.
Think about it. When we are born, we are learning non-stop about how the world works. Everyone around us is helping by teaching us new words and expressions. As children, we explore the world trying to understand what crayons taste like, get play dough out of our ears, how to get our parents' attention, etc. (I guess you can get their attention by sticking play dough in your ears.) As we get older, we enter formal schooling where we learn continuously about social interactions (making friends, dealing with authorities, dating, etc), hobbies (sports, music, art, etc), and academic subjects (math, science, language, etc). Later, maybe after college or grad school, we enter the workforce learning about our job functions and office politics. After we gain a certain level of expertise in our current job, we reach a critical point. Up until this point, learning has been somewhat mandatory but it is at this point where learning becomes optional. We no longer need to learn new things to survive. We can just occasionally update our knowledge and still be ok. This is the point where some choose to continue learning new things while others choose to stop learning. This translates over to our personal walk with Christ.
When I became a Christian, it was a run. I devoured everything about Him. As I grew older, I walked at times but missed the runs. So, I would purposely place myself in positions that forced me to run. To always kickstart my engine not to idle but to rev it up and take off strong. It is so easy, to be honest. I am not saying, to sell everything and move to the mission field, (unless God says to!). The truth is technology has made studying and learning about Jesus so much easier.
As a seminary student, I would have to use these things called libraries. They had books and you would have to learn a system to find things there. Most of the time, you could not find what you were looking for because the library was finite with maybe only a few hundred thousand books. You would have to order your tome and three months later, it might arrive.
If you google a book today, you have access to one hundred and thirty million of them. As I typed this several hundred more were added. The ability to learn is at our fingertips.
Over the last few years, I have been intrigued with The Bible Project. I urge you to go on YouTube and watch a few. They do an excellent job at teaching with proper words and visuals. Watch and absorb the knowledge of timeless truths they present. But what do you do with that knowledge? You share it. You are called to do so. There should be a burning in your heart to let people know of the fire they can escape.
Sometimes you need a catalyst to get kick-started in life. Sadly, most change in life comes because something bad has happened, a divorce, a death, or a medical scare.
Part of why Nā Palena Kea exists is to provide a catalyst for change when life is in stasis. Stasis means a state of static balance or equilibrium, which sounds good, until you get to the rest of the definition: stagnation.
Ponder on these words. If spiritual change is needed, don’t wait for the last moment, flip the switch now. Short-term trips are mostly for the person doing them, for their catalyst. So come here for your change.
We value your prayers, support, and friendship. Mahalo nui loa y Vaya con Dios.
Comments