Featured photo: Ben Jacobi www.bdjphoto.com 

Have you ever discovered the moment you’re awake at midnight with some coffee looking at a photo that is talking to you? That is where I’m at. When I first encountered this photo the word “maze” came to mind describing my immediate perception, but learned that this maze is called “Giant City” in Illinois. But aside from that information. This photo that speaks is, actually, not the one talking.

The very Person in my mind I think about when looking into this photo is Jesus Christ. But I don’t claim to see an image of a person I’ve never seen, nor do I claim to hear His voice having never heard what it sounds like. I claim to perceive Him. There are a number of different ways this photo is interpreted for bearing meaning in my life, but there is only one that will make a difference. The meaning of Jesus Christ. When I look at this photo I experience a walk with the Holy Spirit of God teaching me the truth about myself within the maze of this world. No matter the path this world has to offer, it is a path to death just as you see the paths presented in the photo, but there is a path you won’t see unless you perceive it. That path, is a path of faith.

To experience faith is to place your confidence in a promise that someone gives you.

I promise you, follow me and we’ll get out of this maze.

The question is whether you’ll believe in the promise even if the person that promised dies. That is what Jesus Christ—being the image of God as the Son of God—promised. He promised that He would be raised from the dead and resurrected to the right hand of God. That is recorded to have happened in history past, but is still a living promise today. The promise is for those that believe to be resurrected with Him right now, having been baptized with Christ as a symbol of obedience by repentance. You’ve chosen to acknowledge that all born from the seed of Adam are guilty of sin (lust, idolatry, and pride) and so convicted to the point of death that you place your trust in the promise of God. The grace of God is given through that promise of faith, you have mercy, not wrath. But if you do not believe in that promise, you have His wrath, not mercy.

So my purpose in the maze of this world is to plant a seed, a seed of promise. The promise that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Everyone is born into this life by the design of God, a design that was good corrupted by evil. So every person has had, has, and will have the opportunity to believe, ask the thief on the cross that died with Christ.