Beyond Belief

Then many of the Jewish leaders who heard him say these things began believing him to be the Messiah.  Jesus said to them, “You are truly my disciples if you live as I tell you to, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 TLB

I recently I heard an interview with Lee Strobel about his recent book, Is God Real: Exploring the Ultimate Question of Life. It pulls together the material from his other books to further the exploration of the question that is asked more than two hundred times a second around the world does God exist. Lee knows that question not only deserve an answer, but a truthful one. He was a journalist and lawyer who became the legal editor for the Chicago Tribune and was an avowed atheist and proud of it. As a Yale trained litigator he was quite skeptical and functioned on a fact only basis. However his wife Leslie, also an atheist began to believe there was much more to this life she was living and found that to be true after attending a church where she became a born-again Believer.

After Leslie’s conversion she began to change. This irritated Lee to no extent and he set out to prove Jesus Christ to be a hoax. But he found that the more he “dug up” and the more he studied the more he realized that Jesus was who He said He was and did what He said He did! It took over two years, but Lee finally had to admit he was wrong and Jesus not only existed but was divine, the Son of the Living God. Lee knew that although he would accept the facts that he still didn’t have to accept Him! Until one night he felt led to seek this Man he had studied so much about and as he puts it, “I accepted Jesus as my Forgiver and Leader of my life.” What a powerful statement! It actually turned my head toward the TV. I myself have described Jesus as my Lord and Savior, but calling Him my Forgiver! My mind went into overdrive, instead of thinking of Him in terms of only His act of forgiving me, He Himself is Forgiveness! Yes, the word Lord makes us think of one we bow to, but Leader, makes me think of someone actually 24/7/365 going before me seeking me to follow Him, how awesome is that thought?

Why do we resist the One who knows all about us, the good, the bad and the ugly and still wants to lead us? He will even come find us when we go our own way and forgive us in all things because it is His very nature to do so. I wonder how many bad situations we could have avoided if we just would have followed in His way rather than going our own? I wonder how many more times I’m going to resist His leading even after knowing this? Perhaps instead of wondering, we should “take note” and the next time we’re resisting His Word and leading we should stop read, listen and follow Him.