Introducing The Jesus Stories
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God”. 1 John 4:7
Yes, Jesus loves me. These are the words I have known my whole life. I grew up in a home where church was our second home, and all the people there seemed to be family. My Daddy sat in his gray easy-boy every Saturday night reading his Sunday School lesson and served each week as usher and deacon. A meal was never eaten at our table without bowed heads of thanksgiving and his blessing of “Lord, thank you for these and all blessings, ‘Christ-sake, Amen.”
Yes, Jesus loves me. I surely know the words. But do I love him? I can’t answer that question well unless I ask myself this question: “Do I know him?” Because, really, you can’t love someone unless you know them. Unless you see beyond the childhood simplified stories of the few fish and loaves feeding the multitudes and his excursion with Peter walking on the water.
I have been on a journey with this man named Jesus. I longed to get to know him gradually, as if meeting him for the first time. I accepted his invitation to follow him from place to place, sitting at his feet with his disciples as he taught, listening in on his private conversations, sailing across the sea in the storm, landing on the distant shore.
What I have been discovering is that there is no easy Jesus. He is walking with a purpose. He is on a mission from God and time is running short. He is teaching a truth that is undeniable. And it is offensive. Prepare to be challenged, discouraged, and welcomed. Somehow, he is able to do all of these things simultaneously and beautifully.
But if you decide you want to come along, you will need a Bible, one with the stories of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We will read these diaries of the men who sought to follow Jesus, to know Jesus, to love Jesus. They have written eyewitness accounts, packed full of their experiences of living with this man who walked open-eyed toward his own death, and something never accomplished before, his own resurrection. And then there is his well-documented ascension into heaven. All at his own prediction.
Do you want to know Jesus? Join me in reading The Jesus Stories: Seeing Jesus Through the Eyes of Those Who Saw Him. We may be surprised at who we see.