TEN QUESTIONS JESUS IS ASKING CHRISTIANS
Week Three: What were you thinking?!!!
Question 3. Why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
Read Luke 24:36-40
In the absence of God, like in the absence of sunlight, bad things will grow. Like moss needs darkness and an acidic environment, and in that situation it will take over. Like this also is our thoughts. It's bad information, fakenews. It's the extreme bankruptcy of our own thoughts. It's the very scary human condition. And it's for THAT reason our Lord and God, King of the Universe, Crestor of all things, The Messiah himself...LOWERS himself, to become The Son of Man. And it's into this environment the resurrected Jesus POOF appears and essentially asks us all, "what were you thinking?!"
Of course he already knows the answer, HE KNOWS already what we're thinking. He asks because he wants us to know ourselves better. To grow in our own understanding about him, about resurrection, about faith, about EVERYTHING. And these disciples of his, these beloved followers of Jesus, what do they know? They thought that they were seeing a ghost. Their doubts were growing even before Jesus appears before them. And in their thoughts they're thinking, "my God this is a Spector standing before us". And to make matters worse, even as Jesus shows them his very human and living flesh as well as his crucifition wounds, for all their joy, they were still disbelieving and caught up in wondering doubts. And so what does Jesus do? How does Jesus defeat this corruption of thoughts, loss of heart, fear, wonder, and doubts? He employes the very same tactic he used to destroy the probing and penitrating evil temptations of The Devil. Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures. Time after time, the answer to all our doubts and fears is always going to come back around to study the scriptures. Learn and grow in your understanding of them.
And why?
Why is it so damn important that you truly take seriously the study AND understanding of the Holy Scriptures? And not only know them, not only be aware of them, not only repeat them, BUT live them. Let them live within you. They are the work of The Holy Spirit. They MUST live within you if you've got any hope what so ever of surviving the attacks of the enemy. And Jesus goes on to explain why it's important to him that you take this understanding of things very seriously, he says; "You are witnesses of these things." And your mission in this life is to share that witness.
Don't just open your minds, open your understanding, release the doubts from within your heart. Jesus wasn't some kind of phantom, Christ disciples aren't ghost busters, we serve the living God. Even though there has been many false witnesses throughout the millennia who've claimed Jesus never really came into the world as a human (the Son of Man), the fact of the matter is--unless Jesus became human, was crucified, died and rose again from the grave, there is no salvation for anyone. In that case, no sin is forgiven. In that case no redemption awaits the penitent person. In that case all of humanity is doomed for eternity.
And friends?
That's exactly where Satan wants your thoughts. He wants you, every day, doubting your salvation. He wants you in a perpetually spiraling downward slough of hopelessness joining your voice with the screams of the Uncommitted. He wants your thoughts on lusting, anger, violence, full of greed, heresy, fraud and finally betrayal. The Devil wants your mind, your thoughts, your soul. He wants you living every day in doubt and leaning into sin. In that state he knows you'll grow not in understanding, but in confusion and frustration. You'll become darkened in your thoughts. And in that absence of light his moldy disease of thought will erode and poison what little hope you may have had. It's there where he will defeat your spirit. Because at that point you've abandoned The Holy Spirit (the unforgivable sin).
When we give into the dark thoughts of our doubts we are doomed to become terrified and frightened. Maybe so frightened that we're trapped in a perpetual retelling of the same atheist story that the Devil started from the very beginning. And when Christ Jesus appears among us, we are at risk of misunderstanding his voice.
Why?
Because we weren't listening for his voice. We were listening to our own.
Sometimes we put ourselves at risk. Sometimes we wonder and wander under the power of the enemies wormy tempters of confusion. Usually we do this to serve our own needs, or at least at first we drift off into it for that reason. And before we know it, we've gone too far, so far that to turnaround and get back on track would cost us everything.
Summary and a ray of hope:
Into the darkness of our thoughts Jesus enters and blesses us with the words, “Peace to you.” And he asks us this question; "Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?" And he invites us to grow in Him and in our understanding of him by the power of The Holy Spirit. He empowers us with his Word. He causes the Devil to flee from us with his Word. He opens up our minds with his Word. He saves our souls with his Word. And best of all, he creates in us a message of hope, a witness, by which he spreads joy and grows his kingdom.
For further discussion:
The disciples failed to understand what Jesus was saying when he told them that he would rise from the grave. Describe in what way you once doubted and how The Holy Spirit helped you to finally understand and receive the gospel message.
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