Crabtree Acres

The Greek In Us
by Carolyn Bost Crabtree

Greg and I have been watching a series of teachings at a conference in Wilmore called The Truth Project. One of the lessons was about man and who he is. During the session the topic of Greek philosophers came up. I began to realize just how much of the Greek thinking we as a society have adopted and just how affected even the Christian people are by this. We ask ourselves the same questions that the Greek philosophers asked and they did not know God. They asked questions like: “What is the source of life?” and “What is life all about?” or “What is truth? And “What is the way to God?” When you think about it, these are the wrong questions to be asking ourselves. These questions will never be answered for us, but the questions we should be asking have been answered for us by God in His word. The questions we should be asking have one word changed from the ones the world is asking. We must ask “Who is the source of life?” and “Who is life all about?” or “Who is Truth?” and “Who is the way to God?”

Jesus answered each of these questions in many ways in the Scripture but one Scripture may sum it up: John 14:6 “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.” We somehow think that when Jesus made this statement that He was saying that He had life to give us, like giving out the bread and fish to the multitude. We think He has truth to pass out to us as He wills. The world believes that He is only one of many ways to God and we can choose which way suits us best. Jesus was very specific and not “politically correct” or tolerant when He made this statement. He made it very clear that there is only one way to God and no other -- Himself. If we want Truth there is only one source for it; if we want life, there is only one source for it.

We as Christians know Jesus is the only way to God, but we try so hard not to offend others by being dogmatic and exclusive that we allow ourselves to be fooled into thinking that as long as people are good and do good deeds and dress right, or talk right, or --- you name it, then God will change His mind and let even those who sincerely believe in their own way be with Him for eternity. We fail to tell others the truth and keep silent for fear that others will think we are too fanatical in our beliefs. We even seem apologetic about being Christians in order not to hurt the feeling of others. Christ certainly did not apologize for His statement. He cared enough for those people who were dead in their sins to want to bring them life and truth and show them the one way to God. We try to “live and let live” entirely too much; therefore, our family members, friends and acquaintances die and remain lost in their sin. When we do this we show that we love ourselves more than we love others; we care more about what others think about us than we do what happens to them for eternity.

Besides asking the wrong questions, we turn things around too much. We think we are alive and that when Christ comes to live in us, He changes us into good people who can now please Him. NO! We start out dead people in our sins and only when Christ comes to live in us do we become alive. His spirit living in us gives us life, because He is the source of all life. Nothing and no one else can give true life to us.

 

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