Bear Grylls Says Jesus Changed How He Sees Himself and Others: ‘All Needing His Mercy’

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Survivalist and reality television host Bear Grylls is speaking candidly about his faith in a series of new social media posts, sharing how Jesus has changed the way he sees himself and others—and why everyone needs Christ’s mercy.

The "Man vs. Wild" and "Running Wild" star made his latest comments alongside photos of him getting baptized in 2023 in the Jordan River —the same body of water where Jesus was baptized by his cousin, John.

Grylls, the author of the faith-centric book "The Greatest Story Ever Told," has been sharing reflections on his faith each Sunday.

“For a long time I believed we had to earn our worth,” Grylls wrote in a post from Oct. 18. “Climb higher, push harder, and maybe then we would finally be enough. But for who? It is an exhausting way to live. If that is all there is. You never quite arrive. The thing that truly sets us free is finding home. That we are found in Christ. Found exactly as we are, mess and all.

“The eternal mystery —that the Almighty might call us sons and daughters. But first we must be made whole. Forgiven. Restored. Without that, how can we have ‘Immanuel’ —God with us.”

Salvation requires humility and accepting God’s love as a gift rather than something to be earned, Grylls said.

“We do not have to become impressive for God to love us,” he wrote. “We do not have to summit anything. We simply have to bend our knee long enough to accept a gift we could never have earned in a thousand lifetimes. This truth changed how I see everyone else too. We are children of God. All flawed. All needing his mercy. It makes us gentler, slower to judge, quicker to forgive.

“We are so hard on ourselves, and so hard on each other. The love of Christ I have found to be the medicine for both.”

On Sunday, Oct. 11, Grylls shared a video discussing his faith, writing in an accompanying caption that he had been “seeking life and laughter and friendship, home and freedom”—and found it all in Jesus.

“It took me a lifetime to realise that’s the beating heart of the message of Christ,” Grylls wrote. “He is one for the lost and the outcasts. I am a proud lost boy who was found.”

Two weeks earlier, on Sunday, Sept. 27, he reflected on Jesus’ wilderness temptations and the strength that comes from walking with God.

“There's something about the wilderness that tests us in ways nothing else can,” Grylls wrote. “Jesus knew that. Forty days in the desert, then temptation came at his lowest point. That's when our choices define us —when we're vulnerable, exhausted, desperate. I've always been drawn to the person of Christ because he’s been through the fire, he didn’t avoid hard times. The battles of life are real, but so is the strength that comes from walking with our Creator.”

Photo Credit: ©Instagram.com/BearGrylls

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

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