Wednesday: October 23, 2013

READ: Acts 9

THINK: Sundar Singh’s mother died when he was only 14 years old and he became an incredibly angry young man. He also became a ferocious and vocal opponent of Christianity in northern India. Eventually, Sundar decided that his pursuit of Sikhism and his opposition to others had left him without any ultimate meaning and he decided that he would end his life by throwing himself in front of a train. But on the very night that Singh was planning to kill himself he had a vision of Jesus that turned his entire life around. He became a Christ-follower and spent the next quarter century making a massive impact for the gospel all over the world.

At one point, after his conversion, Singh was visited by a European professor of comparative religions. The atheist scholar asked him, “What have you found in Christianity that you did not find in your traditional religion?” Sundar Singh answered, “I found Jesus.” The professor, approaching religion from a purely academic and anthropological perspective was unsatisfied with this answer. “Yes, I know,” he responded with frustration, “but what particular teaching or doctrine did you find?” Singh looked at the professor, smiled, and repeated his answer, “I found Jesus.”

After this encounter Singh wrote, “When people ask what made me a Christian I can only say that Christ himself made me a Christian. When he revealed himself to me, I saw his glory and was convinced that he was the living Christ.”

The Apostle Paul would have given a very similar answer. And he did often in his writings. His story – and Singh’s – are powerful reminders for all of us that no matter what we know, no matter what we do, no matter how much passion and zeal we have, Jesus Christ changes everything. An encounter with the living God, who died and rose again, absolutely and completely transforms every single thing about our lives. He alone is risen. He alone is alive! Jesus is the difference between Christianity and moralism or any other type of religious belief and practice. The answer is Jesus.

Do you know him? If not, you can. He is freely offering himself to you. If so, have you lost that passion and wonderment that you once had at Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection and love for you – have you let your faith become more about rituals than it is about the person of Jesus? Remember that it’s all about Jesus. He changes everything about who we are and where we’re headed in this life!

PRAY: If you don’t know Jesus but you’d like to, invite him in today. If you do know him and have been guilty of making Christianity a religion of rituals to be performed and boxes to be checked, repent and thank Jesus for who he is and for the miraculous gift he gave in revealing himself to you.