The question for discussion in last night’s Re:gen meeting was “Who is Jesus to you?” The question was easily answered by some and with more difficulty by others. The most prevalent answer was “He is my Lord and Savior.”
As I listened to the other men relate their answers to the group, I thought to myself that while their answers weren’t necessarily wrong, many of them missed the point of the lesson. From my viewpoint, the answer needed to come from a little deeper place, but, I had a bit of an advantage since this is my second time through 🙂
I shared some of my personal experiences. For many years, as many of you know, I was a believer, but not a follower, not a true Christian. Up until last year, Jesus was more or less a figurehead to me. Today, he is everything! I know what it means for him to be my savior, my comfort, my teacher.
For many years, I had a recurring thought that would give me extreme anxiety and fear. Terrified. Sometimes, as laid in bed trying to go to sleep, my thoughts would stray to the end of times. Literally. As in, sun explodes and destroys the entire solar system. My fear came from the thought that if there is no heaven, no afterlife, then when the sun goes supernova, there will be nothing left to say we were ever here. That being the case, why are we even here? The thought of there being nothing after this life gave me the cold sweats and kept me from falling asleep quite some time. Obviously, the root cause of all of this was that my faith in God and Jesus Christ was far from where it needed to be.
Last year, I read The Case For Christ. I watched Left Behind. I was in a place far from righteous. I needed to change my path. I turned to Christ, opened my heart, and left the Holy Spirit in.
After watching Left Behind, the thought of my family going on without me was not an option I was willing to chance. After reading about the punishment Jesus took upon himself for me (and all of us) in The Case For Christ, I was completely humbled. I know that my parents have such an unconditional love for me that they would take a bullet for me, and that’s exactly what Christ did for us and for the same reason. How could you not love someone back in the same unconditional way?
Since then, when I think about eternity, I feel comforted. The anxiety is gone. The fear is gone. I do not fear death. I know that my family and I will forever be together with our Heavenly Father. Jesus is now my everything.
…3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:3-4
Barnabas Man 