Soulful Sunday: Who Is Jesus

Part of my journey to becoming the best me is developing my spiritual side.  In order to do this, I go to Bible study every Tuesday with a few friends, and I am reading a book called Rediscovering Jesus: An Invitation.  I am going to put all of my reflections for the week into one post so I don't overwhelm everyone with spiritual posts.  

In bible study, we are reading the Book of Ruth.  We only read one chapter at a time, and this week was week one.  It is interesting to read about a woman who is so devoted to her family that she, despite pleas to do otherwise, stayed with her mother and law and sacrificed her changes of finding a husband and settling down herself.  As my wife and I are in the middle of making decisions about employment, moving, and ultimately where we want to be, I think there is a take away lesson for me to be less selfish and to think about the needs of my wife as well.  She was recently offered a good offer that would require her to move away and us to be apart for a while.  She turned it down.  As much as I believe that is what is best for her (she is in the middle of a doctorate) and for us (I just started my new job), I feel a lot of guilt.  We talked about it, and my wife agrees this is what is best, does not think it would be good for her or for the new institution; however, I still feel a little guilty.  Throughout this process, I have had such a difficult time letting God take control and trusting that things will workout exactly the way they are supposed to.  That's the challenge, which is why I know I need to work on learning about and allowing Jesus into my life. 

The book, Rediscovering Jesus, reads like a devotional.  It is divided into short chapters, and I read a chapter each night.  It has been an introduction to Jesus and his teachings.  It discusses the "Jesus question," which is "who do you say that Jesus is?" The author of the book surmises that Jesus is an invitation to know God.  I think this is an interesting, and accurate, way to conceptualize God.  When I think of my answer to the Jesus question, I think I would have answered this question very literally such as "the son of God" and "someone who taught God's word and died for our sins."  Now, I'm in the process on getting to know, and truly relying on, God and getting to know God through Jesus.  That's what I'm trying to determine and to discover and to rely on.