Do We Believe?

Yesterday at Crossroads we read the verse from John 14 that tells us that when we believe in Jesus we will do the works that he does, and, in fact, will do greater works. I still don't know the full meaning of that, but, as I got back from my morning school bus route today, I found myself wondering if we believe these words of Jesus--and whether we accept what I believe God has been teaching us over the last two weeks.

God gave me two images to share on the last two Sundays during message time. Click here to learn more about what we were taught on those days.

The first image was of the landing at Normandy Beach in 1944. The idea behind it is that the Jesus' victorious work during his earthly life was like that invasion.

"On D-Day during World War Two, Europe was invaded and the battle shifted inalterably in the Allies' favor. In a sense, the war was won on June 6, 1944, even though there were long months of warfare and bloodshed to come, Christ's incarnation and death at Calvary represent D-Day, but we await the final consummation of the war against evil when Jesus comes again. Until then we live "between the times," in an age in which Christ's victory and Satan's dying endeavors overlap. ... There is still formidable warfare to be fought by the followers of Jesus, an ongoing battle against the powers of hell." (quote from Graeme Sellers' The Dangerous Kind)

The second image, from yesterday's message, was of an iceberg. The idea here is that the part of our lives that we see "normally" is much smaller than what is "under the surface," and that it is God himself who is connected with us because of what Jesus has done for us. Just as Jesus said, repeatedly, that he was not alone but that the Father was with him, and that he only did what God the Father sent him to do, so we can know, through the Word of God, that we carry much more spiritual weight than we might imagine because through Jesus we are also connected with God the Father and our actions mean how they may look at first.

"You and I are invited into that power packed relationship. That's how it is that we will be able to do the works of our Lord--and, according to what he promises--even greater works! The full extent of what that I do not yet know, but I do know that we who have a personal relationship with Jesus are stronger than we know when are deeply connected with God. We are not pansies. We are not weaklings!" (quote from Saturday's blog post).

The question I ask this morning is "Do we believe?" Do we agree with this particular interpretation of God's Word? If not, why not? And, if we do, what are the differences this will make in our lives as we fight the good fight today.

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