How Real is Jesus?

Think about the word 'real' for a moment in a way that describes yourself. You're real. You can feel your surrounds and you're alive. The screen you're reading this on is real. The clothes your wearing are real. They all exist. Now, answer this question:​

​Have you ever thought about Who Jesus Christ really is in your mind, and do you believe He's real?

I have, and I do, but often times when I do, I almost think about Him in an imaginary way. ​Think about it, when you picture Jesus, do you picture Someone that used to live a really, really long time ago in a place, time and way that almost seems almost make believe? Do you picture a white man with long hair and a beard smiling all the time and walking around the countryside with lots of sheep? Or do you picture a man who was and is fully God that just happened to make His human appearance some 2,000 years ago, but that is still literally just as real and alive today as He's always been? For me, I usually picture the almost make believe Jesus. Not on purpose, but because that's almost how my mind has been trained to think. 

Ever since I was little, I've always been taught Who Jesus was and what Jesus has done. Not as much Who He is and what He does. ​I've almost always been taught in a past-tense form. Sure, I've been taught God is love and Jesus does save, but what about that Jesus didn't just feed 5,000 but that He currently feeds millions? What about that Jesus didn't just heal the blind, but that He heals the blind?

Personally, I've just had a hard time connecting Jesus with reality in actual life. It's so easy to say it and say I believe, but to actually believe it and actually live, pray and know that He's ​REAL opens up a whole new realm, life and way of thinking. Realness changes things. 

I can say I believe I'll make a million dollars one day, but that may or may not really believe that to be true. If I ​really, honestly believed in the realness of making a million dollars one day, my life would totally change. I would live completely differently because I'd had full faith in that idea. 

Shouldn't that be the case with Jesus too?​

If we really believe in that fact that He's actually real, shouldn't we actually live in a real way that supports that? Not just a way that says, 'I believe?'​

It's some food for thought. I've been eating on it for a while, so I thought I'd share some leftovers. ​Enjoy.

-Cliff​

Cliff's Note: If Jesus is real, we should really treat Him like He is. ​

5 Things 12-Year-Old Jesus Taught Us

photo via: lampbiblepictures.com

When I was 12 years old, I was your typical sixth grade boy. I played sports, chatted on MSN Messenger and learned what it mean to flirt with girls for the first time. I asked questions a 12-year-old would ask, I said things a 12-year-old would say and I had the wisdom an average 12-year-old would have. There wasn't anything spectacular or peculiar about me; I just did my own thing, while my biggest worries in life were what time practice was, what day the trash needed to be taken out and how to not let my friends see my parents pick me up from the movies.

Life at 12 was easy, for me, but then, there's Jesus. 

Twelve-year-old Jesus is just as interesting as 30-year-old Jesus, in my book. It's the last time we hear of him for something like 18 years. One minute He's ditched His parents in Jerusalem to stay at the Temple for three days straight, and the next minute He's being baptized by John the Baptist, while the Heavens are opened up, and the Holy Spirit is falling on Him like a dove, while God's own voice booms down from Heaven to bless Him. Pretty crazy transition, huh?

Twelve-year-old Jesus was not 30-year-old, turning water into wine Jesus, but at the same time, He was, and we can still learn so much from even His 12-year-old self. Here are a few things He knew at 12 that I'm still learning at 24: 

1) Hang out with people older than you
After Jesus' parents had been looking for him for more than three days after He ditched them at the Passover Feast, where did they find him? Hanging out with old people (teachers to be specific). Jesus hung out with people older than Him, not just kids His own age. If we only hang out with people our age or younger, how will we ever receive the wisdom that only grey hair can bring? If you hang out with 12-year-olds, you'll be as wise as a 12-year-old; If you hang out with 60-year-olds, you may steal some of that 60-year-old wisdom.

2) Ask good questions
Jesus didn't just hang out with people older than Him; He asked them questions. He picked their brains, and it says, "all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers." He was brilliant, mostly because He was God, but also because He asked them good questions. You never know until you ask.

3) Respect your parents
How hard would it be to respect your parents when you're God? Extremely hard. After all, can you imagine knowing literally everything and still having to submit to your parents, even though you may positively know their wrong? I can't. Jesus did it anyway. When His parents said it was time to come home after a three-day stent in Jerusalem, He came home.

4) Go out on your own
At 12-years-old, Jesus was already traveling the country on His own. He pretty much kicked it back in Jerusalem by Himself, while His parents headed home (little did they know). He didn't even need a babysitter. I don't know about you, but I was still scared to stay home alone for an hour when I was 12, much less stay in a different city by myself where I don't know anyone. I'm not encouraging 12-year-olds to run away from home; I'm just saying that at some point, you need to. It's important to travel on your own, meet new people and trust that God will take care of you, even when your parents aren't there.   

5) Grow in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man
Jesus, at 12, was already concentrating on things I didn't even know existed at 12 (I'm still not sure what the word 'stature' means). He knew what was most important in life, and He pursued those things from an extremely young age. Jesus knew that growing in wisdom, stature and favor with God and man were essential to becoming a Man of God. 

At 12, I was definitely nothing but a 12-year-old; however now that I'm a reborn 24-year-old, 12 years later, I just hope I can be someone like 12-year-old Jesus was. I hope my life and the lives of those in my generation can hold as big of a transition as Jesus' life did from 12 to 30.

-Cliff

Cliff's Note: Be like (12-year-old) Jesus.