By Not Known
The Christian message is a message about Jesus. More specifically, it is a message
about who Jesus is and how we should respond to him.
Jesus is the Son who was sent from God to die on a cross and to be raised. He is
the Saviour of all who believe. He lays claim to be the Lord, or Ruler, over the
lives of those who are his followers.
The appropriate response to this message is repentance and faith. Repentance is
a radical turning from the old life in which we deny or defy God. Faith is putting
of ourselves into Jesus’ hands for our salvation and involves a necessary
commitment to live for Jesus in everything.
How do you respond to this message?
We can read a case study of a negative response in Acts 25:25 – 26:32. Paul was
a Christian spokesman who was in jail for preaching about Jesus. Instead of
speaking about himself, he spoke about Jesus.
Paul spoke about his old opposition to Jesus and his persecution of Jesus’
followers. He then told of his personal meeting with Jesus and finished up by
telling of Jesus as the long-expected Messiah who suffered, died and rose and
who was ‘light‘ for both Jews and non-Jews.
That was enough for the audience! One judge interrupted Paul and accused him
of being mentally ill. The other judge (King Agrippa) asked if Paul really expected
him to convert to Christianity so quickly.
These two responses add up to the same thing. One dismissed the message by
labelling the messenger as mad – surely a sign of having no solid reply to the
message. The other deferred a decision, but again did not answer the message.
Is this you? Have you heard the message about Jesus and are half-persuaded? Do
you realise that the message rings true and that you have no real rebuttal of it?
But do you hold back, such that you are almost a Christian but not quite there?
May this be your day of decision! Follow your head and heart, push through the
barriers and commit yourself to the One who makes all things new. You will never
regret doing so.