Prominent TV personality and adventurer Bear Grylls says his faith in Jesus modified him “from the within out” and encourages people to offer Christ a likelihood as he did.
Grylls wrote a column published by The Times on Saturday titled “To be fully understood, the Christian faith have to be tried.” Grylls, known for hosting the fact TV show “Man vs. Wild,” said his exploration of Christianity dates back to when he was a young person.
“When I used to be a young teenager, I heard a visiting vicar at my school say: ‘Jesus Christ got here to kill religion and convey life,'” he recalled. “On one hand, religion at all times seemed the source of war, division and conflict. On the opposite, at any time when I got here across stories about Jesus, he appeared to be about peace, kindness, sacrifice, freedom and affirmation.”
The celebrity adventurer said he “read up about this Jesus person,” discovering that “whoever [Christ] met — wealthy, poor, sick, healthy, preacher or prostitute, powerful leader or easy fisherman — nobody ever appeared to walk away unchanged.” Grylls put himself into this category, reflecting on how his relationship with Jesus would “truly change” him “from the within out.”
Grylls said that explaining the Christian faith is like describing “ice cream or swimming,” insisting that “it must be tried to be felt.”
“[M]y Christian faith has strengthened me in so many battles I’ve faced in life,” Grylls, 50, said.
“In years passed by, I actually have ignored my faith and tried to do life without it,” Grylls admitted. “I actually have tried to be strong only in myself. But I actually have found that my heart is restless until I open the door to Christ again. I actually have discovered that we lose our power after we attempt to survive our own strength alone. I really want His helping hand, His peace inside and that quiet assurance.”
Grylls repeatedly drew a parallel between his Christian faith and his chosen profession path, suggesting they work in tandem.
“My Christian faith helps me to live more adventurously, be daring and take risks, but additionally to care and encourage, to like and support those closest to me and hopefully beyond as well. It’s easy to be cynical about faith and to push difficult issues and questions aside. But to explore is nice. To query is sensible. To seek truth is brave.”
“To decide to have a faith takes courage,” Grylls added. “All too often it’s the tougher path, but life and the wild have taught me that the tougher path often finally ends up being essentially the most fulfilling one.”
Grylls urged readers to “be brave” in addition to “bend the knee, close your eyes and ask for help.” According to Grylls, “It’s a good looking, humble, powerful thing to do. We don’t have anything to lose and all the pieces to achieve.”
Saturday’s op-ed just isn’t the primary time Grylls has used his public platform to debate his Christian faith.
In 2019, Grylls released a 365-day devotional called Soul Fuel. An outline of the book highlights the way it comprises “the backstories behind a lot of his most daring expeditions and the way his faith gave him the aim and power to hold on” and “explores themes of hope, courage, risk, heaven, and more.”
In an interview with The Christian Post last yr, Grylls said, “Christ has been a light-weight to a dark path and strength to a failing body.”
“Through many valleys and summits, jungles and deserts, He’s at all times there,” Grylls said. “For me, it is not a Sunday thing. I really want Him day-after-day. That’s how I sort of approach life.”
Grylls has developed a friendship with actor Russell Brand and assisted in Brand’s baptism within the River Thames last yr.
