Book 1 of Musings Christ Is the Question

What will you do with Jesus?

Sometimes people say Christ is the answer. This is true. Christ is the answer to every problem people have.

It also is true that Christ is the question.

Was there really a person named Jesus Christ? Undoubtedly so. The New Testament certainly has the ring of truth to it. I personally have read enough literature to perceive the New Testament is not some humanly contrived account.

Not too long ago a girl from our church, who now is in college, asked me how she is to answer a young person from a Christian background who is questioning his faith. It seems sometimes when Christian young people go off to college they return minus their faith.

I am glad to say that our girl is standing strong and encouraging others.

There probably are all sorts of ways to prove there is a God and that Christ is His Son. But I answered this way: "Tell the young man who is questioning his faith to ask God to reveal Christ to him. In other words, if you want to know whether or not there is a God, ask Him to show you."

This is what I did many years ago, and I'll tell you He has convinced me of His existence and that Jesus Christ is His Son. I know this now from the experiences I have had.

So let's assume there is a God and Jesus Christ is His Son. This poses a terrific question to every human being. If this is so, then the first priority of life is to find out what Christ wants you to do.

If God and Christ are really sitting up there looking at us, then how stupid it would be to ignore them and go about our business.

Think about the vanity of life. We spend years getting an education so we can earn money so we have enough to eat so we have energy enough to work. In addition we may wish to acquire a house or car or some other convenience or comfort.

But we truly are living in the valley of the shadow of death. If you don't think so, visit your local hospital. There are many hospitals in the region where I live in Southern California. I have never been to the hospital without having trouble getting a parking place. And the parking lot of the hospital where I go is huge.

You can go to the emergency room in the middle of the night, any night of the week, and there are people in the waiting room in various stages of distress. What does this tell us? It tells us that life is cruel.

Sometimes I look at the homeless people pushing their carts with all their belongings in them. These men and women at one time were happy boys and girls playing in the schoolyard. Now they are haggard, in dirty clothes, pushing their belongings down the street. At night they will try to find a place in back of a store or school where they can keep warm and sleep. No place to shower or even wash up. No money. No toilet.

Life beats the juice out of a person. We start off happy and confident, most of us. But life has a way of defeating us.

I notice how many television commercials are devoted to medicines that relieve stress and heartburn. People have a lot of worries: about their children; about their marriage; about their health; about their job; about their retirement. There always is something to worry about.

Tell me: Is life worth the trouble? Are you enjoying yourself right now? Will you be enjoying yourself ten years from now? Maybe, if you don't wake up some morning with cancer, or have a heart attack, or you child doesn't develop leukemia, or you are not raped, or your son doesn't become a homosexual or your daughter a lesbian so you can't extend your line through grandchildren.

Oh yes, a wonderful world we live in.

And now there is the threat of terrorism, of war, of deadly bacteria or radiation being released.

I came to the conclusion when I was nineteen that life simply is not worth living. Too much trouble considering the uncertainty of the good you get from it. It is a wonder I didn't commit suicide.

Someone told me about the Lord Jesus. When he did, he presented me with a question. What am I going to do about Jesus. Am I going to ignore Him? Am I going to say, "Maybe it isn't true. Maybe it's the product of someone who for whatever reason wants us to believe a lie."

So as soon as we hear about Jesus Christ we have to gamble. We gamble that the story is true, or the story is false.

If we are willing to bet that the whole account is a fabrication, then there is no more to think about.

If however we consider the consequences of making the wrong decision, and decide we are going to gamble that the story of Christ is true, then we have another decision. What are we going to do about it? What are we going to do with Jesus?

Not being completely stupid, I reasoned in this manner: "If I gamble that the story is false, and I die and find out it is true, I am in the worst possible trouble. I am not willing to take this kind of chance."

If I decide to bet that the Gospel is a true account, then what am I to do about it? If it is true, then the only sensible thing to do is to find out what Christ wants of me. To believe it is true, and then to ignore Christ, is foolhardy. After all, I am going to die someday and I don't want to face some kind of eternal rebuke.

And so I thought to myself: "I am going to gamble that the story is true. Furthermore I am going to do what Christ tells me to do." What do I have to lose? Life is full of trouble no matter what you do.

A year later while in Sasebo, Japan, the Presence of Christ came to me and called me to preach the Gospel. I told the Lord that whatever He wanted me to do I would do, without exception. This I have continued to do to the present hour, although having made many mistakes along the way. When I find out I am in error, I tell the Lord I was mistaken and I press on. He never rebukes me for this.

I have had many supernatural experiences in my life. They were not some form of self-hypnosis. They were objective happenings.

While we were in the Bay Area I saw an angel who directed us to our present location. We pulled up stakes and moved where we were directed. It certainly has proved to be of the Lord.

I studied probability theory while I was in the University of Rochester in New York. When I consider the odds that the pattern of my life has been random, the probability approaches zero. There is design. I can see it plainly. To say the events were random happenings would be dishonest.

So here is the question:

"What will you do with Jesus who is called Christ?"

This is what Pilate asked. Pilate made an eternal example of himself by yielding to the Jewish mob, even after his wife warned him because of a dream she had had.

Pilate answered by saying, "Let Him be crucified. I've got too much at stake to worry about one Jewish teacher. Still, maybe He is the King of the Jews. But I just can't chance it. What would Caesar say?"

I wonder what Pilate, Caesar, the scribes and Pharisees, and Judas are saying today. They took the chance that Jesus is not the Son of God. Now they know whether or not He is.

I am not that foolish. Reviewing my life, if there is no God and no Christ, I have lived a better life than if I had chosen to ignore the issue. Because of my foolishness, left to my own devices I no doubt would be dead by now.

Instead I have the respect of my family and friends, and my self-respect.

A few years ago I had a heart attack. What a blessing it was to know if I died on the operating table my family was taken care of, because of the faithfulness of the Lord, and I was going to a wonderful place.

I may be going in soon for a minor operation. Actually no operation is really safe because of the many unforeseen disasters that can happen in the best of hospitals. But I still am rejoicing because it is a win-win situation for me. If I get a staph infection in the hospital and die, my family is safe in the arms of Jesus and I am in a far, far better place. If I live I keep on preaching and serving the Lord, hopefully gaining in wisdom each day.

You can't lose with Jesus.

"What will I do with Jesus," Pilate asked. This is the most important question you or I will ever answer. To answer incorrectly is to face a fearful future after death. To answer correctly is to insure the best possible life in this present valley of the shadow of death, and then an eternity of eternities in which, as C. S. Lewis puts it, "each chapter is more wonderful than the previous."

"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked. They all answered, "Crucify him!" (Matthew 27:22)

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