And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” Rev 5:5
Barb and I recently watched a movie called, "The Most Reluctant Convert." It is the life story of the great theologian and writer, C.S. Lewis who became an atheist at a young age and while in his early adulthood became first a theist and then a Christ follower. He is narrating the story as an older man and following himself through his childhood, adolescence and early adulthood as he was seeking truthes about the world. There were two scenes in particular that we both felt were profound and inspirational.
In one scene C.S. Lewis is discussing the whole concept of Christ as a man versus God. Several atheists he respected and read had written that Jesus was in fact a moral teacher and not the Son of God as He claimed. After listening to his arguments his friend looked up and said, "if Christ was not the Son of God and the person he claimed to be He would have had to been a liar, a fakar or simply insane don't you agree?." C.S. Lewis agreed with that construct, but then his friend said, "that is inconsisent with your description of Him. If He was all those things, then He could not have been a moral and insightful teacher." "Those two thoughts are opposing by their very nature. The difference between He and all the other people who claimed to be God is that his teachings and actions prove Him to be who He said He was or He could not have been moral and sane." That lead me to this simple concept that this man Jesus had an impact on this world because of who He said He was.
The second insight came toward the end of the movie when C.S. Lewis said, "we are created to be immortal." If there truly is a life beyond earth then all men, whether they are a believer or not will live an immortal life for birth on. The only difference will be if they live that eternity in the presence of God or in the absence of God. That lead me to realize this simple idea. We are not trying to get people to accept Christ on earth, but for an eternity. Every person is immortal and our obligation to Christ is trying to help people gain immortality in His presence. Acceptance is about going to church, reading scripture or singing worship songs. Yes those things help us grow and gain insight but more importantly acceptance of Christ is trying to save an immortal person from an immortal absence of God. That makes the need to reach others more important to me. That helped me to put in perspective that we are not just evangelizing to get "salvations, baptisms or church membership." We are engaged in a great battle for the immortal soul of every person created.
If you get a chance watch the movie. It is sort of documentary and sort of story but I imagine that if you watch it 20 times, you will gain 20 insights. Me, I have gained some new understandings that helped me realize that all that we do here is not about here but about immortality. We represent the Lion of Judah to conquer the world.
Much love,
Preach
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