I Wonder--July 19

A short time ago I finished listening to a talk given at Duke Divinity School. It was recorded some time ago at the retirement of a famous faculty member. The question the speaker asked as he began his lecture was: What difference does Jesus make?  

Now I do not want to argue his point with you in this post anecdotally, but just wonder about the question being asked in your life? 

You see the speaker's point is that Jesus came to earth, He came to dwell among us, He came to be with us, and He made a difference in that choice. We can argue if the second person of the Trinity had a choice to come for us or of God the Father just sent Jesus without discussion. And that argument has little if any value in actuality because Jesus came. 

He made the difference. 

While people around Him scoffed at Him, and those closest to Him denied Him in public, Jesus was busy making a difference. When He retreated to pray and submitted Himself to God the Father in heaven in the Garden on His last night, Jesus was making a difference for us. He was making the choice.  

Yes, much of what He endured cost Him terribly. He was hated by His critics and beaten by the authority of the day. We know well the narrative of His torturous death, but again He made the difference by His choice. 

There is always a reason, perhaps a valid one in your mind, why you can opt to not make a difference in the community which God places you in. But that would be your choice. . . a choice to NOT make a difference. You could stand on the sidelines and question and bemoan what is happening around you. 

Or. 

Like the Messiah you could enter into the work and world and speak about how Jesus made a difference in your life. I wonder what that story might sound like and how God might use it today?