Category: Jesus Christ

When You Lose [Faith]

…”calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” Luke 7:19

 

Here we have John the Baptist locked away in Herod’s prison.  We read of his wavering, but that shouldn’t alarm us.  There has always been difficulties for those who follow without diluting their love for Jesus.  It’s very likely that John had preconceptions about Jesus’ ministry.  But that certainly doesn’t mean he was apostate or backslidden.  He still believed, as he looked out through the bars.

We walk in a greater light and have surer promises that John did.  And in that light we still have our difficult moments.  We can falter and shake and doubt.  And John only had a 100th of understanding that we have.  Often we are amazed by another’s confusion and struggles, it is so clear to us that they are falling short.  It is frustrating.  Moses once went ballistic, beat his rod on a rock and had some choice words.  His anger spilled all over him and made a mess.  We read of his provocation, and miss our own faults, sins and weaknesses. 

We need to understand the depth of our own depravity.  There are those who have proceeded us, who have had their moments of despondency and doubt.  We see them, as it were, from a distance and criticize and challenge what we see.  Noah’s drunkenness and Lot’s vacillation.  The flakiness of Samson, Peter’s denial and Mark’s timidity, and much more.

Today, let us resolve to be gentle with each other. “For we all stumble in many ways”, James 3:2.

A Serious Case of JDD

I have a syndrome called JDD.  It afflicts me in several different ways.  My psychiatrist can give me no meds that would help me.  It weakens me and makes me vulnerable to a host of enemies.  I have Jesus Deficit Disorder.

I wonder about this thing called “Christianity”.  After over 2000 years, have we veered off course?  Is the Church of Jesus founded even resemble the one we have in the US? As I ponder about these questions, I honestly am not sure anymore.

Being a Christian without the presence of Jesus is a frightening possibility.  We don’t realize that we have shifted to another track, things seem so ordinary and smooth.  It is spiritually disturbing that we are diverted so easily.  We end up with the Christian religion, but without Christ.  How did this happen?

When you have Jesus Deficit Disorder (JDD) you end up with a Christianity without Christ; a form of religion, but without its inherent power.  It all appears legit and acceptable, but it is a sham.  It is not what Jesus intended for us.  The intimacy has lifted. We speak about Him, but not to Him. 

There is a deficiency in a heart that does not claim Him as an intimate friend.  It frightens us so that we avoid the presence of the Lord.  The children of Israel had absolutely no desire to meet with God face-to-face.  They insisted that Moses should go on without them.  What prompted this?

We have an untamed God.  On any given Sunday, out ushers seating us should be handing out life vests, and issuing flares and whistles.  We would be tied to our chairs.  For we are in the presence of a God who is awesomely loving, and faithfully unpredictable.  He is a Lion, wild and untamed, and hanging out with Him also turns us into a wild disciple, who is a bit edgy and untamed.

Having JDD will revert us to a soft domestic soul, disengaged from a spiritual authenticity.  Oh, we travel to what we believe the general direction of good religion.  We are missing the attitude of “more Jesus”.  It’s old hat stuff, but I must say it anyway– more Jesus–less religion.  

In His Steps, Reading #52

“What would Jesus do in the center of a civilization that hurries so fast after money that the very girls employed in great business houses are not paid enough to keep soul and body together without fearful temptations so great that scores of them fall and are swept over the great boiling abyss; where the demands of trade sacrifice hundreds of lads in a business that ignores all Christian duties toward them in the way of education and moral training and personal affection? Would Jesus, if He were here today as a part of our age and commercial industry, feel nothing, do nothing, say nothing, in the face of these facts which every business man knows?

“What would Jesus do? Is not that what the disciple ought to do? Is he not commanded to follow in His steps? How much is the Christianity of the age suffering for Him? Is it denying itself at the cost of ease, comfort, luxury, elegance of living? What does the age need more than personal sacrifice? Does the church do its duty in following Jesus when it gives a little money to establish missions or relieve extreme cases of want? Is it any sacrifice for a man who is worth ten million dollars simply to give ten thousand dollars for some benevolent work? Is he not giving something that cost him practically nothing so far as any personal suffering goes? Is it true that the Christian disciples today in most of our churches are living soft, easy, selfish lives, very far from any sacrifice that can be called sacrifice? What would Jesus do?

Continue reading “In His Steps, Reading #52”

In His Steps, Reading #51

In His Steps

Chapter 31

 

He had planned when he came to the city to return to Raymond and be in his own pulpit on Sunday. But Friday morning he had received at the Settlement a call from the pastor of one of the largest churches in Chicago, and had been invited to fill the pulpit for both morning and evening service.

At first he hesitated, but finally accepted, seeing in it the hand of the Spirit’s guiding power. He would test his own question. He would prove the truth or falsity of the charge made against the church at the Settlement meeting. How far would it go in its self-denial for Jesus’ sake? How closely would it walk in His steps? Was the church willing to suffer for its Master?

Continue reading “In His Steps, Reading #51”