If we continually have life experiences and then we make up stories about people and events in our lives, then it should come as no surprise that people make up stories about Jesus.
Someone may see Christians singing worship songs on TV and decide that Jesus is dull. Another sees Christians protesting outside a cinema that is showing a movie that denigrates Jesus and they decide that Christians are small-minded.
Just like a lot of the time the stories that we make up in our lives don’t bear any resemblance to reality, so, too, can be the case when we look at Jesus. Even more alarming is the way that we are prone to frame our reality through the eyes of another. Sometimes it is easier to believe a story that is made up rather than matching events with reality.
Just consider the way the vaccination vs anti-vaccination debate unfolded. People with zero understanding of the principles of epidemiology and virology were vocal proponents or opponents of the jab. Few paused to consider that they were merely mouthing the reality of a person or persons who were telling them what to believe.
Shedding our self-determined reality about Jesus is a work of God. It is only when we come to Jesus with an open mind that God can reveal who Jesus really is:
“For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).
Seeing Jesus as the power and wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:18-2:16) is the miracle of new birth. This is the reality that leads us into becoming the wisdom of God, redeemed and sanctified (I Cor. 1:30).
“So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (2 Cor. 3:18).
My take home for today: our reality is transformed when we first approach Jesus in genuineness of mind and humility of heart for understanding. I know, because this is what I did at 47 years of age!
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*All quotes from NLT.