How Do You See Jesus?
The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. -- John 1:5
Is Jesus a Democrat or Republican? Is He a liberal or a conservative? You probably answered based on your own political views but I didn’t ask you about yourself. I asked about Jesus.
The answer isn’t as simple as any of us would sometimes like to believe. The truth is that Jesus would be neither. And, frankly, I think He’d be pretty disgusted with all of us.
Liberals focus on the poor and those in need. Conservatives focus on a personal relationship with Jesus and sexual sins. Neither really reflects who Jesus was and is.
Jesus didn’t wage a war against poverty. Really. He didn’t. He simply told His followers to care for the needy. That’s right. He told you and I to take care of those who are poor and in need.
Jesus also didn’t really talk about living within us so much as our relationship to Him. He spoke of being the vine and His followers as the branches of that vine. So maybe the idea isn’t to keep Him hidden inside of us but to show Him to the world through our words and actions.
Jesus expected us to live as He did, to take care of others and to love our enemies. Oh, yeah, and we’re not supposed to go around looking down our noses at those who disagree with us. We’re to get along with others, showing them respect and love.
Jesus never intended that we would separate the social gospel -- caring for the poor -- and the personal gospel -- filling ourselves with His Word. We were to live our lives with a wholeness that includes both. After all, how can we truly live as Jesus yet ignore the needy around us or foist them off on someone else. He didn’t so why would we?
Some wonderful Christian people have hardened their hearts to those who are lost. And some wonderful Christian people alter the Gospels to fit their free choice agenda. Neither is right. It’s way past time we stopped trying to turn Jesus into who we think He should be and concentrate on turning ourselves into who He meant for us to become.
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