Jesus Christ Blog

If you are anything like me, you have probably caught yourself trying to make your own sin out to be something less than the big sins that everyone else commits. You know, the biggies that are in the Ten Commandments like murder, adultery, stealing, lying … stuff like that. Certainly I’m not that kind of sinner. No, I’m a minor sinner. When I sin, it’s more like “sin lite.”

Thinking like this creates a ridiculous state of affairs when it comes to Christ dying for all our sins while we attempt to rationalize them. Sure I’m a sinner and all that, but my sins are mostly the private ones that don’t hurt anyone else. Oh sure, they may not hurt anyone else but they killed Jesus! Let’s think about that the next time we’re considering one of those little private sins. Did Jesus die less for my little sins than for anyone else’s? Did my sins only make Jesus die a little bit? If sin means missing the mark (which it does), by how much I miss it is a non-issue. No one’s out there measuring how far we missed it by. We missed it. Line up for the death penalty. (Thank God, this is where Jesus comes in.)

When you’re dead, you’re dead. I’m not a medical professional, but I’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as being just a little dead. Yet try telling your rationalizations that. Look at the silly consequences we create whenever we try to rationalize the truth.

There is no such thing as a little sin. Sin is sin, and the wages of sin is death, says the Bible, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) You can’t any more sin a little than you can get a little eternal life. There is only one way this works: Sin, death, gift of God, and eternal life, in that order, and they’re all big time – full strength. Whenever we sin, we sin big, and we die big; but Jesus died big time, so that God could give the gift of eternal life … and that’s big too! That’s forever! To belittle any one of these is to belittle the rest.

So if you ever catch yourself comparing your sin to others and trying to tell yourself that your sin is less significant, just remember Christ died for our sins, and there’s never anything little about that!

No one can be just a little bit dead.

There is a bar in Laguna Beach, Calif., that becomes a celebrated biker hangout every Sunday afternoon. There is always a live band playing and rows of gleaming Harleys on either side of the street, with people inspecting them as if they were in a showroom.

The riders all leave their helmets out with their bikes, and I’ve found the helmets to be a study in and of themselves. The most popular look like they are from World War I, with various kinds of rebel markings, and a few have little stickers that serve as a sort of biker bumper sticker. (“Biker bumper sticker” – try saying that five times real fast!). One I saw particularly caught my attention because it said, “JESUS LOVES YOU.”

Now I am aware that there are various biker ministries out there where committed followers ride for Christ and seek to spread the word about his grace and forgiveness. I have always loved this – the Gospel in a rebel context – being aware that the message of Christ is in some ways better suited there than it is in more respectable circles. You can’t read about Jesus without coming to the conclusion that he would be right at home with the biker crowd.

But as I got closer to the Jesus sticker, I noticed there was another message in much smaller print underneath the more visible “JESUS LOVES YOU.” It read: “I think you’re a jerk!” (That isn’t exactly what it said, but it will work for our purposes.)

At first, I was somewhat repulsed. Where I thought I had a Jesus biker, I actually had a form of sacrilege. But the more I thought about it, I realized there probably was more than a kernel of truth in this version of a familiar Christian message.

I can think of times when I might as well have been sporting a “JESUS LOVES YOU; I think you’re a jerk” sticker for all the thoughts I harbored toward the people to whom I was announcing his love. And, of a certainty, he does love them. The question is, do I?

“How can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?” wrote James (2:1), or in the words of John: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar.” (1 John 4:20)

It’s not enough just to announce the love of Jesus without loving the same people he loves. If “Jesus loves you” is going to be our message, we need to make sure our love goes along with his.

“What can I do? I’m just one person.”

How often have you heard that? The people who change the world are people who never ask questions like this. They just get busy with whatever is at hand, seizing the opportunity to serve the needs of those around them.

Remember Natalie – our friend with the hair salon in Long Beach Miss. – who volunteered to receive clothing and personal items for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and deliver them through her storefront and how her salon was transformed into an unofficial distribution center for the suddenly homeless? That was one person. “I’m voting for Natalie Schmidt for contemporary sainthood,” one of our readers wrote. “Isn’t it just downright amazing what God can do with just one person who listens and says, ‘Yes’ to him?”

Yes it is, but then Natalie’s willingness would not have amounted to much if so many of you hadn’t responded to the opportunity to get some direct help to people through this unique arrangement. It wasn’t just Natalie. It was really a whole lot of people saying, “Yes” to God that made a difference here. We’re good serving on our own, but we’re better together.

That’s usually the way it works – many people responding individually, making a difference through their collaborative efforts. That is exactly how God plans to get his work done through the Church. The Church is merely Christ’s hands multiplied by the millions, his heart by millions more, and it is God working in all and through all that makes this all happen. The Church is not the building on the corner; it’s the result of people all over the world saying, “Yes” to God, and in so doing, they together become the visible Christ. The Church is God’s presence in the world, and you and I have a part in this. Each, and altogether, with God driving it.

So, on one hand, it’s a pretty big effort, but on another, it’s just Natalie.

And you … and me … and don’t forget God!

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19-21)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.   Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses,  as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory now  and  forever!  Amen.

GLORY BE TO THE FATHER AND TO THE SON AND TO THE HOLY SPIRIT AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING, IS NOW AND EVER SHALL BE WORLD WITHOUT END.  AMEN

 It has been awhile since I really focused on the true meaning of these words.

PRAISE BE TO GOD!!!

God, whether I get anything else done today, I want to make sure that I spend time loving You and loving other people-sharing Your Good News with them-because that is what life is all about. I don’t want to waste this day.

Praise to You, O God.

Walking in an awareness of God is already speaking volumes to others.  

For more visit, www.PurposeDrivenLife.com

“Blessed are those who work for peace, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)

I must admit, “working for peace” is a new concept for me when applied to my closest relationships. Being a child of the 60s, working for peace has strong connotations of political and social action. After all, we’re the generation who made the peace sign universal. But peace on a more human relationship level is another thing. I wouldn’t think of that as work; I would think of that more as avoidance. For me, peace in a relationship is achieved by avoiding anything and everything uncomfortable.

That’s because I’m dysfunctional when it comes to this. I will opt for peace at any price, which usually means if I know a conflict exists in a particular area, I will avoid the subject altogether. Or if I am in conflict with a certain person, I will avoid them altogether. This is not being a peacemaker. It’s being a coward. A peacemaker works for peace and by avoiding conflict, I am saying I am not willing to put forth the effort necessary to face into a problem, I am too afraid to face into it, or I don’t care enough for the other person to want to seek peace. But do I care enough for myself to want to live in peace instead of conflict and denial?

Peace is never found in walking away from our fears, but in walking into them. Like the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz, courage comes when you care enough for someone that you will face into your fears on their behalf. It takes this kind of work to be a peacemaker.

Think about where there is conflict in your life and ask God to show you how you can make peace. It’s true that a relationship is made up of two people, and if there is a conflict, both have to want to make peace in order to achieve it. We can’t change the other person, but we can do our part to create the environment for reconciliation.

If there is a chasm in a relationship, you may have to reach further than you thought to establish peace. You can’t always count on the other person meeting you somewhere in the middle. Thank goodness God didn’t meet us halfway or he’d still be waiting there for us. That’s much too far for us to reach. God did the only thing that could bridge the chasm between us. He came all the way.

How far are you prepared to go for someone else?