Real

The real God became a real man in the real Jesus, the real Son of God. He talked a real talk, walked a real walk, loved a real love, and lived a real life with real joy and real pain. He died a real death on a real cross with real nails. He cried real tears and shed real blood for my real sin to give me real life. His real dead body was really raised, and he really lives to extend his real life through a real community of people who really follow him.

For those who doubt, John makes it clear that this Jesus thing is flesh and blood real. He (along with many others) experienced first-hand Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension. They saw Jesus with their own eyes, heard him with their own ears, and touched him with their own hands (1 John 1:1-4). This is not some new philosophy to be pondered. This is a life to be lived; a life we have been invited into, a life in which we participate.

John’s letters keep me from getting off in the head. It’s convenient to live in a conceptual world. Nice ideas and lofty platitudes keep me from getting my hands dirty, my heart broken, and my life challenged. But forgiveness and forgiving, abiding in Jesus and obedience to him, and sacrificial love for others pulls me out of my world of comfortable concepts and into the messy world of human community.