Jesus, Yesterday Today

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Jesus, Yesterday Today

A book title caught my attention and started me thinking about how the progression of time changes things from new, to old and outdated.  Things such as the smartphone were once novelties,  now they are commonplace and old technology. I remember when cellphones were a new thing. Back in the late eighties, we were working on a drywall finishing job in St Cloud Minnesota where dad borrowed the job supervisor’s cellphone to call about getting a new pair of stilts. He let dad use his handheld brick phone, to make that call at three dollars per minute. Looking back a few more years before that, I remember when we got our cordless phone. It was a Cobra brand that dad purchased at Radio Shack. That was really neat because we did not have to stretch that cord on the handset, which was often long and tangled. When my dad got his cordless phone, he put a wire up in the attic of the house to help the signal reach further. He was pretty pleased with it, because he could be on the back side of the farm, and with the little antenna pulled up on his handset, and next to the electric fence, he could talk from over a quarter mile away. Later my dad got us a set of two-way radios that worked through repeater towers, allowing us to communicate many miles while we did custom farming.

In the era in which we live, much of that technology is history, and we have moved on to a world which at that time we would never have imagined possible. It is something how that gradually changed without us perceiving that change was happening. New technology has replaced the modern conveniences of yesteryear. The same has happened with many things, including the medical field, morality, and our views of life. If we are not careful, keen to the Holy Spirit, this may happen to our views of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and his Word. Are you and I serving the same Jesus they did a hundred years ago or, five hundred years ago? Or has he become modern like the rest of the world?

This new modern society is about our rights and not infringing on another’s. Like it or not, this has affected the way we view life and places judgment on history.  This affects religious, social, and political views. Together with it, there is a loss of principles and morals. Over time this becomes the accepted normal way of life.

This book which got me to thinking, is about being enough, healing, heartbreak, and becoming whole. Although I have not read it, I have no reason to believe it would not be a good book. However, it was not the book itself that caught my attention, but the way we have come to look at healing and becoming whole; being enough, the way God created you and me to be. I guess what struck me, like my illustrations of getting used to things, are we doing the same with our Lord? I believe there can be a danger in saying that he loves me just the way I am, that brings him down to a level that may misrepresent and negate his power. Without intentionally doing so, we may be making him into “our Jesus”, the way we want him to be, instead of who he really is. I am not in trouble with becoming personal with Jesus, for he has done so much for me. I am wondering if there is a danger that by accepting ourselves, and our hurts, we may be giving ourselves more room than we should, and not experiencing the true healing that comes in a complete turning over of ourselves to Jesus. We may be creating a, “feel good “ Jesus that overlooks sin.

We tend to be lenient in judging ourselves, by putting ourselves in a pretty good light, at least in our minds. It is our temptation to capitalize on our hurts, and we find ourselves wallowing around in them, instead of coming to the Lord for healing. This may take us being a little hard on ourselves sometimes and taking responsibility for our lives. It is easy to continue to blame others for the pain we are suffering, instead of coming to the Lord, for healing, forgiveness, and restoration.

Recently I listened to a book about someone who suffered persecution in another country. They were forced to watch some awful things happen to their fellow prisoners. Later I was impressed with the thought, that Jesus died for the persecutors the same as he did for the victims. This may be difficult to accept if someone has personally suffered at the hands of another person. Yet I believe as the Lord heals their wounds, though trust may not be restored, they will come to a deeper understanding of the grace and goodness of God on all mankind, and how much we all need to be forgiven.

It is easy for me to focus on how kind, compassionate, and forgiving Jesus is. Yet I do not want to lose sight of his commandments, and what he expects of me as his follower. Though He bears long with us in our grief and sorrow, his real intent is to heal us. We may carry some lifelong scars, but we do not need to be crippled the rest of our life. Take Jacob for instance. He met the man, possibly an angel, by the river and wrestled with him all night. The man told him to let him go, but Jacob said, “Not until you bless me.” The man then touched Jacob’s thigh and Jacob limped for the rest of his life. Read the whole account yourself. Genesis 32:21-27

It is not uncommon in healing, that something remains as a reminder of what we were healed from. Often, this kind of healing leaves behind a softer more compassionate person, the hard bitterness being removed.

It may do us some good to evaluate our perception of Jesus. He says, John 14:14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. Then in the next verse he says, John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. These two verses tell us that he cares about what we ask for, but he also has some requirements for us to live by to experience a relationship with him. There is no question that he loves us, cares for us like no one else can, yet he is not our buddy, he is our Lord and Master. He loves those that hurt us just as much as he loves us. Yes, he is that great. His love for others is not contingent on whether we love them or not, neither is his forgiveness. It is difficult to have love, or to prove love without bringing forgiveness into the picture. True love forgives. There is no better example of forgiveness than what Jesus said while on the cross being crucified for crimes he did not commit. Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

Forgiveness is not only for those who wrong us; it is to set us free. In fact that may be the biggest reason to forgive. Forgiveness does not mean the immediate restoration of trust to someone who hurt us, in many cases that has to be earned. For example: someone may forgive a thief, but it is doubtful they will trust him until he has proven himself trustworthy. Yet in many cases, the small misunderstandings, and hurts that happen, are a part of getting along with others and to not trust is to not forgive. Forgiveness can lift a tremendous load off the mind. Forgiveness is not contingent on someone asking, they may not even know they hurt you. See what Jesus says about it. Mark 11:25-26 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. Forgiveness does not erase a crime, nor say that nothing happened. It does not take responsibility for someone else’s actions. It simply means I have chosen by God’s grace to forgive, and not let it keep me in bondage. The bondage that unforgiveness carries is like a heavy weight, that weighs down our mind. The Lord wants to heal us and help us forgive.

There is a mystery with our Lord, and that is that everyone can have a personal relationship with him, without him shutting anyone out. Your relationship with him is just as precious to you, as mine is to me, and they are not in competition with each other. It also means that while he is reproving me, he may be comforting you. This is beyond our human comprehension. Take a look at the verses in Romans 8:35-39.

Love cannot be love without a certain amount of judgment. A love that accepts anything and everything cannot be true love. In human relationships, love has a jealous and protective side. The opposite of love is hate. Love has requirements. Someone who truly loves their child will teach them about the things which would cause them injury. If not, it is not true love. To put it in earthly terms, how long would you feel someone loves you, if they ignored your wishes, and exploited and betrayed you? The same holds true with our relationship with Christ. He will not accept us if we try to serve both him and his enemy which is Satan. Of course, the love of Jesus is far above earthly comprehension, so in a way this was not a fair comparison.

It seems to me that our modern view of Jesus is more one of love and acceptance, than what I would imagine past generations would have perceived him to be. I do not consider that a bad thing, nor that we need to turn back to the past. We just need to be aware of the tactic of Satan, who offers us his version of a jesus who is all love and no judgment. His jesus can never set a soul free. Some serving this jesus, will continue in life with and emotional gospel, full of self-love, and void of the life changing power of the truth. We become open to this other jesus by being disobedient, lukewarm, or allowing hurts to fester into offense. The fruits may be offense, emotionalism, intellectualism, and deception. Such a individual loses their childlike spirit and becomes unteachable. This does not necessarily all happen at once, but gradually over time Satan draws them in, until they are completely deceived by his lies.

There is coming a day on the final day of judgment when Jesus will no longer be our merciful Savior but our judge. It will not matter what we thought he was; what will concern us is if we followed him and were obedient to what he asked of us. If we remember this, it may help keep him in the proper perspective.

His love cannot be earned; it is freely given to every race and walk of life. If we choose to follow him it will fill our hearts and spill out to others. It is a true life-changing experience.