If you’re not a follower of Jesus and you’ve read Viva’s story, you may well be shaking your head and maybe even your fist.
Why are Christians always talking about helping others get to know Jesus?
Why can’t they just help people and not talk about Jesus?
It’s a very reasonable question. Maybe you’ve grown up in a family, a school, a church or a country where religion was used as a way to justify abuse.
Maybe you’ve been at the receiving end of people who have forcibly tried to make you think like they think.
If that’s you, you’re probably going to have a pretty strong reaction to what you’ve just read.
I’m certainly not going to deny the importance of your experience. Here’s one thought.
At Viva, we carry God’s big dream that all of creation will be restored to how God always intended it to be. This is in process, but will ultimately be realised when Jesus returns.
Hearing that you may think, “If I ignore the bit you mentioned about Jesus’ return, I carry that dream of a better world too! But I don’t have to bring God into it.”
You might ask, “Well, why don’t you just work for the good of the community and leave Jesus at home?”
There’s a problem there though. Us.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a Russian writer who spent several years imprisoned in forced labour camps under the Soviet Union. He observed,
“The battle line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man.”
If he is correct, then to see our families healed and our communities restored, each of us is going to have change from the inside out.
I must change from the inside out
What Christians believe is that to really change, we’re going to have to experience forgiveness for the evil we have done and extend forgiveness to those who committed evil against us. Ultimately, we’re going to have to experience the love of God.
Only being restored to the loving God who made us will truly heal our hearts. This will result in lives transformed to serve not take. God has provided that restoration to Himself through Jesus.
That’s why we’re always talking about Jesus. He has transformed our lives and we want you to meet him because he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to us.
We’re like that annoying friend of yours who just got a Thermomix, or a new bike or a new diet. Yes, it changed my life. Yes, I’m shouting about it from the roof tops. Guilty.