A Journey of Faith
This week my wife and I visited the upgraded Billy Graham library and found it to be a wonderful walk down memory lane. I thought about the importance of the centrality of Jesus as I considered the circumstances when I first saw Him.
When first entering the library, the words that are impossible to miss are "A Journey of Faith." As all born-again Christian people do, Billy walked through life by faith. Like any who trust God's Word completely, his faith became an assurance of things not seen. When listening to Billy preaching during the library tour, you are often struck by how he would use the name "Christ," spoken with fervor, exclamation, and importance. Likewise, his use and oratory of "Jesus said" lent tremendous weight to the Savior and His spoken words.
I was raised religiously "Christian." By that statement, I knew specific facts about Jesus but did not know Him. Anyone intimate with the creator God who died to redeem sinful men carries a weight of importance in their heart that can never be completely silenced.
For the Christian, the message is Christ. An evangelist like Billy Graham never preached the message as if it could be separated from Christ. It is never enough to moralize people, which is what teaching alone does. The accumulation of facts without intimacy uses the mind without the totality of one's heart.
The light of Christ only comes on when a person comes to know Him, like someone who comes to know an intimate friend. When strangers share a traumatic experience, they can find comfort in each other, even though they are strangers—the sinner who comes to know Christ shares with Him the intimacy of his sins. The experience is not merely intellectual; it's spiritual, subliminal, and communication beyond knowledge. "to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:19
When the lights come on concerning the depth and wretchedness of our rebellion, selfishness, and independence toward God, then the love He expressed for those for whom He died brings Him very near. In short, the message of the Christian who witnesses to the person of Christ is Christ and Christ alone.
"By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit." 1 John 4:13
"By this, we know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments." 1 John 2:3
"and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.” John 4:42
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