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MONDAY THOUGHT 1/12/09

Circumstantial Evidence
 
Pick a hero.  I don’t care if it’s Justin Timberlake, Barack Obama or Ronald Reagan.  (Have I covered all bases?)  He impresses you, stirs your soul, is someone you honestly believe in.  And then he dies.  (Happens to all of us.)  Thirty, forty, fifty years later, imagine yourself still being out there, banging the drum, telling the story, living the principles of this guy!  Oh, and in the end — imagine this — you believe sooooooo strongly that you would rather be murdered brutally for your belief than say, “Nah, that’s okay, not worth dying for.”
 
That’s what I find so amazingly unbelievable about Jesus Christ that, well, I just have to believe.  Men and women listened to Him and followed Him during three short years.  And then — yeah, here’s the best part — they kept on following Him for the rest of their lives!  And many of them died (some say, cheerfully!), brutally murdered for this humble servant, this loving preacher.  I have to believe that Jesus was selling more than a neat philosophy or a way to make one million dollars in real estate in just three weeks!  
 
My point:  Something pretty amazing and awesomely powerful happened back in Israel roughly 2,000 years ago. It was much more than a philosophy or cause.  Maybe, just maybe, it was and continues simply to be true.  Enjoy, celebrate and revel in the legacy He gave us. — jri
 
“The beginning of the gospel about Jesus
Christ, the Son of God.”
    –    Mark (who likely knew Christ personally)
           (Mark 1:1)