“Believe”

The following was written by Jacob Wright yesterday, and I though explained the foundation of what I was getting at in my previous article.

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Someone asked me if there are consequences for unbelievers. The word “believe” is a poor translation of “pistevo” which means to wholly trust or surrender, not to have a mental adherence to something. Trusting in Christ is bigger than cultural indoctrination and identity. Just because you were born in the East and therefore identify with that culture you were shaped in and are therefore a Muslim or a Buddhist does not mean you do not trust Christ. Christ is bigger than belief system that was engrained into you by your culture and his Spirit is at work in all places everywhere.

Christ is not just the man from Nazareth that came into history 2,000 years ago, but as apostle John said he is the cosmic Logos that the whole universe is expressed through and who gives life and light to all humanity. Christ is the reason a universe unfolded towards consciousness, rationality, and intelligent beings, and furthermore why these beings live their lives through an assumption of truth and meaning reaching after fulfillment. Christ is enlightening everyone of us, but all on our own personal subjective journeys.

Some will recognize in this lifetime that the historical Jesus is this Spirit whom they have been seeking to follow all along, and some will not. But those who love are born of God, those who are peacemakers will be called sons of God, and those who manifest the fruit of the Spirit follow and trust in Jesus whether they know it or not. On the other hand, those who confess “belief” in Jesus but hate their enemies and have no desire for peacemaking or compassion don’t trust in Jesus or love him.

The historical Jesus, in his life, teaching, ethics, and revelation of God in his self-sacrificial and enemy-forgiving death, forever changed and is changing the world, even when people who claim exclusive ownership to his name by their “doctrinal rightness” sell him out to everything that he opposed. Many who allegedly reject Jesus, only reject a false Jesus that they were presented, all the while following his Spirit.

I believe everyone will eventually surrender to the self-giving love at the heart of the universe, that is, Christ. The self-sacrificial love that happened 2,000 years ago on Calvary is bigger than that one event, but is cosmic, universal as the truth of who God is and is within everyone of us, waiting to be unveiled. It is what propels the universe forward, and one day every knee will bow (submission of heart) and tongue acclaim (overflow of the heart in declaration) that Jesus is Lord, that this Personality of love is the true universal reigning power, to the glory of our eternal Father and Origin who fills all and is through all.