Thoughts from The Bible

Thoughts from the Bible

Tuesday, 01 February 2022 07:31

Do You Believe in Magic?
by Terry Broome

The Walt Disney Corporation has built an empire worth hundreds of millions of dollars on fantasy. With Fantasy Land with Peter Pan and Tinker Bell and all the other make believes of “Never-Never Land,” it’s pretty obvious that people will pay a lot of money to dream for a while, to feel the magic of what isn’t real, but we wish it could be, somehow. They’ve even named the amusement park “The Magic Kingdom.”
So much of our world is about fantasy that some people get pretty confused. For example, is there really a Loch Ness Monster, or Big Foot, or for that matter, a tooth fairy or Santa Claus? I’m afraid in the midst of dream land, somewhere some of us lose sight of the fact that Jesus isn’t a dream, a fantasy, a figment of imagination from “Never- Never Land,” and His Kingdom isn’t a dream-like “Magic Kingdom” of make believe.

Neither is He just something we read about from ancient history – like dinosaurs – you know, real, but obsolete. Many think of Him as someone who lived about 2000 years ago, and thousands of miles from here. We read about what He did in those ancient times and in some far away land, and we become so absorbed with His history that we forget He is the Christ of Today, and His kingdom is very real and present with us today.
Jesus is neither a fantasy nor obsolete ancient history. He is “the same, yesterday, and today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). And His Kingdom is not just a dream “Camelot,” nor some future millennial utopia on earth. They’re both very present and very real! I rejoice that biblical faith doesn’t give us room for dreams that can never come true. Christ is either alive and present today, or He isn’t of any more value to us than Peter Pan! He’s either real or fantasy! So many things would change for us if Jesus were not real. There’s real comfort in knowing that Jesus knows, and that He really cares.

When the Christ of history walked along the shores of Galilee, He was concerned about people. He didn’t like to see them suffer. He demonstrated His compassion for them over and over. He made the blind to see, the lame to walk and the deaf to hear. He healed lepers, raised the dead and calmed the seas to secure the safety of his friends. He promised that He would sit with them at His table in His kingdom, and that they would have continued fellowship with Him even after His departure.

But the Christ of the present is NO different! He delivered on His promise to establish His Kingdom, and proclaimed that “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). Then He took people out of darkness and translated them into that Kingdom. (Col.1:13). He’s not here in flesh and blood as He was in the long ago, but He is with us and knows our every need and care. He has made it possible for His followers to enjoy a power within themselves that is greater than any other power in the world. This power is able to keep us in every condition of life—whether sadness or joy / defeat or victory. It’s the peace of God that surpasses human understanding that comes from Jesus. It is the realization that we are citizens of a heavenly Kingdom, therefore we have nothing to fear as to what man can do to us.

The early disciples believed in The Christ of the “Present.” They lived a little closer to His fleshly life than we do. Some of them watched Him as He went away, but because they believed Him when He said “I am with you always,” they did as He asked them to and went into all the world and preached the gospel to every creature. They offered Christ to their world – alive and present – not as fantasy, but as fact – not as obsolete, but up to date with the real needs of real people. The world needs the “present” Christ with His real Kingdom – Not just a dream – Not just to feel the magic of what isn’t real, but we wish it could be, somehow. Friends, Jesus is real, and everyone He saves, He gives heavenly citizenship to. We need to believe that His Kingdom is real and carries with it all the benefits that He promised. Magic is just an illusion, a sleight of the hand. But Jesus has offered us the REAL THING. I’m proud to be a citizen of the everlasting Kingdom of God.
The author can be reached for comments at 256-574-2489.