How to come to faith? IV: Jesus ...

Friday, July 24, 2009. How do I come to faith in Jesus? By listening to Jesus. By observing what he says and does. By meeting him through the biblical texts. We will move on today, we will come to the point where faith can start, after all the discussion of the last days.

We have spoken a lot about God, about existence and not existence, about science and our understanding of the world. But all this will not lead you to faith. Only one thing can lead you to faith. Only one person can save you from remaining in a state called “darkness” by the New Testament. Don't be offended if I talk about darkness - I would call my own mind dark in many respects. When ever you do not understand something it is dark, it is not open, it is closed and invisible. For natural scientists it is very common to be in the darkness when we try to understand some particular phenomenon and we do not yet know what's going on.

We have to go to Jesus. We have to listen to him. Jesus ist just great. If you study Jesus, you will realize that he is slightly crazy. In fact, he acts really crazy, completely out of the range of everything we know. But on the other hand he has many features which are extremely attractive, which are overwhelming, fantastic, unbelievable, beautiful and breathtaking.

Jesus believed in God. He talked about God all the time. He talked about him as “his father” and “your heavenly father”. He talked about him as if he knew him face to face, even deeper. And he promised similar experiences to the people who believe. That can be a reason and fundament to believe: I believe since Jesus believes. His faith becomes my faith. I stick to him, to the things he sais. I have a good reason for faith when I start like this: my reason is Jesus himself. I believe since he is as he is.

Faith is not something purely intelectual. The intellect might play a role - that depends on your personality, whether you are more driven by your head or by your stomach. But faith is much more than just argument and intellect. It is something which changes my whole person. When I start to move forward with steps of faith, I will realize that many things happen. My person starts to change rapidly, not every habit immediately, but my existence moves into a different realm. Faith can be experienced. It is not something which would be just a dream. But it needs a starting point which has a good grounding - and that can be Jesus himself. He can be the fundament as well as the goal, “the truth, the way and the life”.

We said we need to talk personally. I came to faith when I realized that I want to be with Jesus. That time I said: even if he is wrong, I want to be with his belief. But then I realized that he is not wrong, that there is real power behind him, that God is not an illusion but the strongest and deepest reality which exists. I think that Jesus is the road to faith himself. Come and have a look at him. If you take this serious, I cannot imagine that you will not be surprised, moved and changed when you get to know him. “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. (Revelation 22, 17) ... more texts