My brain hurt. I don’t mean a headache, I mean my brain just felt like it had been in a tiny car wreck inside my skull, and was now lying in a ditch upside down trying to remember if it had full coverage insurance. It’s a feeling experienced only by those who have tried to discuss the finer points of theology in a language they don’t really know.
It was 2006, and I was sitting in a crowded cafe in Salamanca Spain, surrounded by Spaniards, Danes, Aussies, British, and French, watching an event that unifies people like nothing else: the FIFA world cup. I am convinced that the Antichrist will not be a politician, a clergyman, or a billionaire: he will be a soccer player. If you’ve ever traveled outside of the US, you’ll get where I’m coming from. That also explains why the USA is not mentioned in endtime prophecy: the rest of the world will unanimously vote to nuke us into oblivion as we watch the Super Bowl or the World Series! (pause for the irony of calling it “world” series)
There was an awkward silence at the table… the kind of pregnant pause after an argument that says more than the argument did. I had just spent nearly an hour trying to wrestle my brain and tongue into communicating to a Spanish priest (in Spanish) that salvation is by grace, and not of human works or merit. Even though the priest had stormed off, fed up with this “Protestant” and his poor Spanish, his angry parting words hung in the air like a persistent smog: “I don’t believe that!”
As I struggled to think of some lighthearted comment to keep the conversation going with the other occupants of the table, a younger Spaniard piped up with his own comment, and it was anything but lighthearted: “I CAN’T believe that.”
He went on to tell me that was also training to become a Catholic priest in seminary, and mercifully he spoke English. When I asked him to clarify which point of doctrine he couldn’t believe, his response floored me: “I can’t believe in Jesus”.
He told me of how great the Catholic church was for society, for teaching morality, for social justice… but the concept of God as
He knew what the Bible said about Jesus, he wasn’t ignorant. He just didn’t believe.
revealed by the Person of Jesus Christ he could not accept. He believed that God must exist somewhere, somehow… but not the Jesus of the Bible. Jesus the teacher, Jesus the revolutionary, Jesus the moral example… that Jesus was acceptable, but Jesus as God in human flesh, raised miraculously from the dead by His own Divine power?
He knew what the Bible said about Jesus, he wasn’t ignorant. He just didn’t believe.
I am sitting in my living room right now, and believe it or not, I’m trying to write a blog post on Thanksgiving. I have thought for days on what I should write; I’ve stewed over all the blessings that God has poured out on me… As I write this, I am distracted by my daughter running up to me smiling, and asking Daddy to play. The aroma of breakfast cooked by a loving wife lingers in the air. I write on an expensive laptop on my nice couch, to a group of people that for some reason actually believe in God’s ability to use me, who pray for me regularly, and send me financial support…. And none of those things are what I really want to write about.
You see, but for the grace of God, I could be that young Spaniard. He had no peace, no real joy, no hope, and no real purpose, even though he had religion. Why? Because those things do not exist outside knowing and accepting who God has revealed Himself to be, through Jesus Christ. Paul put it this way:
“And if Christ be not risen, then [is] our preaching vain, and your faith [is] also vain.”
“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”
This Thanksgiving, I want to focus less on being thankful for what God has done for me, and be more thankful for who God has revealed Himself to be!
Why am I loaded daily with blessings? Because Jesus really is who He said He is: the Good Shepherd. Why do I have abundant life? Because Jesus is who He said He is: the fountain of living water. Why is my soul satisfied? Because Jesus is who He said He is: the bread of life. Why do I have confidence that He will keep and protect me? Because Jesus is who He said He is: The King of kings and Lord of lords. Why do I have hope that I will live forever with Him, forgiven of my sin, accepted with the Father and adopted into His family? BECAUSE JESUS IS GOD.
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” II Cor 4:6
Everything I know about the character of God, my reason for existing, the future of this entire messed up world, is revealed in perfection in the Person the Bible calls my life, my head, my hope, my King.
So this Thanksgiving, be grateful for who He is. Be grateful for the priceless gift of faith and belief in Him that changes everything about everything. JESUS THANK YOU!
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Thankful that I’m not an Agnostic Priest
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