 When we talk about believing in Jesus, who is Jesus? Is he just a spiritual guru? Is he just something like Mahatma Gandhi or Lao Tzu or Buddha? Is he just kind of in that class of wise folks who have life philosophies that we should follow? What does the church believe and teach about who he is? Jesus in the New Testament had a confrontation recorded in the Gospels with the Jews. It's funny because many people read the New Testament and say, Jesus never claims to be God. It's funny because in a confrontation with the Jewish leaders, of course Jesus is a Jew. But with the Jewish leaders, he said to them, Before Abraham was, I am. So they of course tore their clothes and cried, Why would they say that in saying that he committed the worst kind of sin against God? Because he said, he was saying that before your father Abraham existed, I existed. So it means that he's claiming to be eternal. And then this trail is kind of difficult. And then he says, of course, before Abraham was, I am. Which is he's claiming for himself the name of God as it was revealed in the book of Exodus when God met Moses in the burning bush. And he said, I am that I am. And so they understood that he was claiming to be God without any question. In fact, there's no more powerful way of claiming to be God than what he did in that moment. So when we say we believe in Jesus, we're saying we believe that Jesus is who he said he was. You know, C.S. Lewis has this powerful passage or reflection in his book, where he says that, you know, you can't have Jesus as just a great guru. He said he's either Lord, liar or lunatic. He's a lunatic if he believes he's God and he's not. He's a liar if he knows that he's not God and then claims that he is. Or he is who he claimed to be. So when we say I believe in Jesus, the beginning of our yes to that reality is that we're saying you are God. I'm not. I can't save myself. I need you. I recognize you died for my sins. I recognize the teachings of the church are true. The church that you established, the only church that Jesus established. We're saying to him, I believe all of those teachings and I will follow you. I will as an answer to your call to take up my cross. I will take up my cross and follow you. I will repent. I will abandon myself to the kingdom of God. So this my friends is what it means to say I believe in Jesus. It's what it means to be Catholic. It's what it means to be saved. It's what it means to have peace and joy and hope of eternal life. It's what it means to have a relationship with God himself. It's what it means to, you know, Jesus said in John chapter 10 verse 10. He said, the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But I came that you might have life and life in abundance. I believe in Jesus saying yes to God, giving your life to God. It means living a life of true abundance, of true abandonment to God, of true freedom, of true joy for all of eternity. This is Dan Burke for SpiritualDirection.com.