Real – February 25, 2023

We did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
2 Peter 1:16

Real

In 2001, director Stephen Spielberg and actor Tom Hanks paired up to produce the miniseries Band of Brothers. The ten-part drama followed a company of World War II soldiers from their basic training through the end of the war.

In this miniseries, the characters were colorful. The plot twists were riveting. The battle scenes were beyond intense. For those who watched the entire program, however, perhaps the conclusion of the final episode packs the most powerful punch. You see, each episode of Band of Brothers began with an old man talking to an off-screen interviewer. Over the course of the series, the various old men became familiar faces as they quietly spoke of their days as young soldiers. Only at the end of the ten-part story did you learn their names. They are the very men depicted in the miniseries. They are the Band of Brothers. Their story was not fiction. Their story was real.

When the apostle Peter sat down and wrote his second letter, he was an old man too. He wanted his readers, including you and me, to understand something about what he and all the other writers recorded in the Bible about Jesus. They did not write it down for entertainment. They did not write it down to tell a rousing story. They did not write it down to keep us spellbound with colorful characters and riveting plotlines. They wrote it down because that’s what happened. They wrote it down because they were eyewitnesses. They wrote it down because it really happened.

That means your forgiveness in Jesus and his guiding hand in your life is real. It means his promise to uphold you and your security in him is real. And that is really comforting.

Prayer:
Holy Spirit, as I read your Word, fill me with the awareness that Jesus’ life and death and resurrection took place in real time, for me and for all. Amen.