What do YOU think?
"What do you think of the Messiah? (Matthew 22.42)
This is the crucial question, as William Haslan discovered on October 19, 1851, when he went into his pulpit and started to preach. Suddenly he realized for the first time who Jesus really was and “felt a wonderful light and joy coming into my soul.” A moment later, a man in the congregation leaped up and shouted, “The parson’s converted! The parson’s converted! Hallelujah!” The whole congregation and the pastor joined in an outburst of praise.
Today people are hungry for Jesus, even when they are disillusioned about Christians. Yet secular book markets, video rentals, TV and movie ratings all indicate that there continues to be an enormous interest in Jesus. When people turn their eyes on Jesus, they are amazed, challenged, and/or enthralled.
The history of Western civilization reflects this hunger and fascination with the person and work of Jesus Christ. Dostoevsky wrote: “I believe that there is no one lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic, and more perfect than Jesus. I say to myself with jealous love that not only is there no one else like Him but there could never be anyone else like Him.” Tennyson noted: “His character was more wonderful than the greatest miracle.” Napoleon stated: “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have found great empires. But upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Force. Jesus alone founded an Empire upon love, and to this day, millions follow Him… I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ was no mere man: Between Him and whoever else in the world, there is no possible comparison.”
As we step forward into this coming Fall season with its challenges, opportunities, decisions, and relationships, would you take a moment to honestly ask yourself, “What do think of Jesus?” Let me encourage you to write your answer in the form of a reflection… If we answer that He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord God in the flesh— then let us make a commitment to give the Fall season to Him that our lives might honor Him. If we truly believe, then may it never be said of us: “For though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened.” (Romans 1.21)
Carnegie Simpson observed: “Instinctively, we do not class him with others. When we read His name in a list, we feel it is an offense... Jesus is not one of the world's great. Talk about Alexander the Great, Charles, Napoleon, if you will. Jesus is not Jesus the Great. He is the only. He is simply Jesus. Nothing could add to that.”
Fellow saints, what we think about Jesus will define how we think about others. A high Christology will always inspire and drive the Kingdom mission we were made to embrace -- on earth as it is in heaven.
What do you think when you think of Jesus?
