February 25 - Messengers

John 15:18-19

18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world. That is why the world hates you..."

My friend Brandon, who I roomed with in college, is an amazing and outstanding guy. He's a solid Christian and is sold out for Christ. Today, I received a text from him and the above verses were attached. If this were any other day, I would probably have read them and thought on them for a moment and moved on. However, I have been feeling the pressure lately. The teenagers I am surrounded by everyday seem to be on the moral decline and any kind of positive influence I try to portray to them gets shattered by my frustrations. To add to it, I got into a "Youtube conversation", which I will probably never get involved in again. In simple terms and for the sake of time, I will consolidate the conversation into a question:

How do you convince someone that doesn't believe in God, Jesus, heaven, hell, creation of man, or faith, without using the Bible?

Try it. It's not so easy. There are people in the world who want to physically touch God and see Him before they will believe. Want to quote 2 Corinthian 4:18? Too bad, because that person hates the Bible and thinks it is fake. As Christians, we are founded upon the Word of God and the faith that we have in Him. To unbelievers and haters (the world), we are stupid and ignorant for believing in such insanity.

The text message this morning from Brandon was incredible, not in that it was a big pick me up, but I very rarely communicate with him. We text maybe one day out of 2 or 3 months. Brandon did not know anything about me feeling down about being around apathetic teenagers or having Youtube Conversations with a guy who doesn't even believe in himself. Could it be that God laid something so simple as those two verses on Brandon's heart to share with me, because He knew I was struggling? Our God is strong and powerful, but He is also intelligent. He knows everything, including our heartaches and our joys. Maybe it was a coincidence. I doubt it, but maybe. The bottom line is this:

We, as Christians, are hated for what we believe in. The world wants to see us fail and for us to be proved wrong.

We have a great opportunity to motivate and pick each other up, but it requires discipline and willingness to be used as a tool for God.

Psalm 14:1

1 The fool says in his heart, "There is no God"...

In closing, consider this as for a defense in that Christ truly existed and lived on earth (as basis for truth in the Bible):

Did the Roman Empire exist?
If we can't touch or experience the Roman Empire in person, how do we know it existed? From literature, right?
The same is true with Christ or the existence of God...literature (the Bible).
How could Christ's birth and crucifixion be part of a history of a great empire, but yet still be "made-up"?
How can a ruler so real as Caesar Augustus be apart of putting to death a made-up, falsified man?
Questions to consider...