Lance Brown

No matter how short or long you’ve been a Christian, it’s extremely easy to be naïve about the difficulties of life and the difficulties of growing as a Christian. The greater our naiveté, the greater our discouragement!

How will the world see who Jesus Christ is? Amazingly, the world does get a chance to see “Jesus” when God’s people reflect something of who Jesus is, and relate to one another in ways that make it unmistakable that Jesus Christ is real. The image Paul uses is that of a body.

God has always searched for lost children. The Old Testament central plan was to raise up a nation, Israel, to be a testimony to others of the blessings of God. Often, Israel ignored God and was an example of the power of sin.

Upon Jesus’ death, the disciples hid. Grieving and fearing they were next! Though Jesus told them that He’d be arrested, whipped, killed and rise from the dead, they either forgot those words or thought it was just “spiritual” teaching.

How did the religious leader treat Jesus? How did the robbers treat Jesus? If you had been Jesus, how would you have likely responded? Think back when someone or people reviled or mocked you. How DID you respond?