May 7, 2012

Acts 8:35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

You have to read the story surrounding this verse to appreciate the depth of this statement. I won’t take the space here. This verse stands out to me because I wonder how many of us could do this- explain the story of Jesus as the bible does. Many of us are afraid of coming off as pushy “bible thumpers.” We are attracted to “spiritual” things but put the bible in the category of “religious.” If we say we believe in God, the question becomes what God do I believe in- the God I make up for myself or the God who revels himself (forgive the gender issues)? While running the risk of oversimplifying, we have to get our understanding about God from somewhere- either from inside ourselves or outside. If we rely on our own thoughts and/or feelings, how do we know we are not making up the God we want rather than the God that really is? Christians have always believed in a God who breaks into history in ways that we as humans can understand and that the record of that break in is found in the bible. So Philip could start with an Old Testament passage and explain “the good news about Jesus.” Could you? How do you know the God you say you believe in?