For the New Year

Here's a chance for Christian cooperation:  95% of Christians believe, together and in common, 95% of Christian doctrine.  The 5 and 5 outside of that generally disagree on very minor issues (which they often make into HUGE issues), giving the appearance of disunity.

Here's one fundamental agreement:  there was one day that changed everything, a single day that has had more impact than any other day in all of human history.  Jesus' last earthly day:  Last Supper to Gethsemane to Crucifixion.  That 24 hour period has influenced more people, for more years, than any other day.  And the significance of that DAY was underlined by the HOUR of the discovery of Resurrection!

A friend said it this way:  "I just missed seeing the biggest bass that ever was in this lake, but I DID see the splash!"  An unbeliever with an open mind searching for historical verification of the whole event has to objectively consider the SPLASH, even when no camera took the pictures.  After all, that's the only proof for any event we didn't personally witness.  (All of history, sacred and secular, agrees on that level of proof.)  And it is sufficient.

We don't follow Jesus blindly, or just with a dedication to high hopes, or just because Grandpa did!  We follow Jesus when the objective reality of that unique combination of events is totally verified by the witness of the Holy Spirit.  That convinces.  God did that.

And that is the core of Christian unity:  when the Spirit verifies the record.  Other things?  Lots of them are in the pile that says "I can take it or leave it."  This one is the Christian fundamental that underlies all the rest of Christian doctrine.

So, tell yourself "Happy New Year".  God did it.  2000 years of human history teaches us far too much about  conflict and division based in human nature, but it also confirms for us that God did it, for you and me!

Go celebrate.  Toot a horn.  Make a cheerful resolution.  Spend time with your best friend.  And smile as 2010 gives way to 2011.  It's another good year on God's calendar.  Thank God for Jesus!!