I have had people ask me; Why Jesus? What makes your faith any different than all the other religions of the world? More than likely if you are a follower of Christ you have been asked a similar question. Or perhaps maybe you accidently stumbled across this blog and you yourself are wondering that very question. Why Christianity? Why Jesus?
I'm not sure if this blog will suffice the follower of Christ or the curious mind as well, but I will do my best to share with you just what this Jesus offers that no one else, no other religion, or no other philosophy can offer. Sure, I can give you the obvious Christian answer;
"For God so loved the world that He gave is only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life!" ~ John 3:16
It's a true statement and nothing else gets to the point of the message and answer of Why Jesus? Jesus does indeed offer us eternal life, but the claim of eternal life is no different than that of Muslims who promise eternal life to those who live in accordance to their teachings, or Judism, or Buddhism , Hinduism or what ever "ism" or religion who want to name. Eternity is commonly offered in all of them. It's that reason why so many today believe that we are all on different paths that lead to the same place. We live in an age of religious pluralism.
So what does Christianity offer? Why Christianity? Why Jesus? What is offered here that is not found in any other religion of the world? Sunday church goers are asking the same questions. And let's be honest, us Christians have really messed up reflecting Christ at times. Ghandi once said; "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Perhaps there is something that we can learn from Ghandi about Jesus. Ghandi was absolutly right. Let's be real, the reason people have issues with Jesus, isn't because of Jesus, it's because of the church, the followers of Jesus Christ. However, I have always found it interesting how so many other religions point to Jesus, they point to his teachings, his way of life. Ghandi also stated:
"Jesus occupies in my heart,the place of one of the greatest teachers who have had a considerable influence on my life. I shall say to the Hindus that your life will be incomplete unless you reverentially study the teachings of Jesus...The lives of all have, in some greater or lesser degree, been changed by His presence, His actions and the words spoken by His divine voice... I believe that he belongs not solely to Christianity, but to the entire world; to all races and people.."
What makes Christianity so different than any other religion? Look at the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39ff), or to the adulteruss women (John 8:1ff), or look to Saul's conversion (Acts 7, 8, 9)...each one encounters Jesus, each one is offered grace and forgivness, each one is transformed from the insed out.
The truth is each and every one of us are broken, each and everyone of us have failed and made mistake after mistake, sin after sin, but no matter are brokeness, no matter how much we have messed up, no matter how bad we might think it is, Jesus came to pick us up, dust us off, and to try again.
He entered into our broken lives and met us in the darkest places in our hearts. There he offerrs us all a way that leads us out of the darkness and into "life". It's why Jesus says, "I am the the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" ~ John 8:12
Dan Stevens writes;
"All of us are broken but there is beauty in our brokeness. Because it is in our sin that God encounters us, forgives us, and restores us."
Why is Christianity different? What does following Christ offer? What does Jesus offer compared to the other gods and religions of this world? Well the gods of this world, the gods of the nations must be carried, but the one true God... our God Carries Us.
And that my friends can not be said about any other god, there is none like our God...
a God of the Broken!!Blessings,
Pastor Derek
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