Jesus the Solution?

I've been doing some thinking and reading and think that I have come up with one reason that so many people accept Christ and then do nothing else with their lives. I think it may, in part, be due to the manner in which we present the Gospel. We have, historically, just presented Jesus as the Solution to our 'problem' as humans. So people accept Christ and then their 'problem' is solved and He is filed away in some box. Please don't get me wrong, I believe that Christ did come to earth to die for our salvation. But is Christ not so much more than that? He desires to live with us on a daily basis...to hear our worries and desires...to hold us when are upset or celebrate when we achieve success. I heard someone recently speak about how when the church first began it was not known as Christianity, it was simply The Way. Christ came to show us the way to live.

When the woman in Scripture with the bleeding problem touched the edge of Jesus' robe, she was healed. But Jesus was not content to stop there. He told her to, "Go in peace." But the Hebrew understanding of peace was not just the absence of strife or conflict. It was a filling of God's presence. So not only did Jesus heal her, He told her to be filled with the presence of God and live that way. How would the world look differently if every Christ follower were to live as if filled with the presence of God? In my last post, I rethought the meaning of the Ten Commandments that God gave Moses and it seems to me that they echo what Christ taught...love God and love people. If we follow these two goals, I believe that it is impossible for us to disobey God.

The Ten Commandments?

I think oftentimes we struggle with aligning our lives to Christ because all we typically see is a big list of don'ts. But what if we examine Scripture in a slightly different way and try to see what God was really saying to us through those 'rules'?

1. Love God with your thoughts.
2. Love God with your eyes.
3. Love God with your words.
4. Love God with your time.
5. Love your parents.
6. Love other people and cherish life.
7. Love your spouse and cherish them.
8. Respect OPP.
9. Love your neighbor.
10. Respect your neighbor.

I mean, honestly, is that such an exhaustive list of things that we need to do? But therein lies the beauty of it. We don't have to. It's a choice. All God is trying to do, it seems like to me, is show us how best to live together with Him and others. Just my thoughts.

I wonder...

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:30

When Jesus refers to his yoke being easy and his burden light, he was referring to the things that he did not permit.

During the Old Testament a Jewish rabbi's list of rules and his interpretation of how to live out the Torah were called his yoke.

So Jesus' list of rules is easy? Love God and love people. Period.

I wonder sometimes if we aren't more in love with the Bible and the idea of being a 'perfect' Christian than we are living out the call to love people. I wonder what this world would look like if we would begin to walk the road that Christ did and become servants to those around us. How the world react if it saw us like that? I remember when I was in high school and so fanatical in my beliefs that I would seek out arguments to 'prove' my point and 'prove' that Christ was who he said he was rather than show others the love that I had been shown. I wonder if that would not have gotten my point across more clearly. I wonder if its odd that we never see Christ get mad at 'sinners'. It's only the religious leaders that try to oppress the 'sinners' and use their faith to benefit themselves that we see Christ show true anger. I wonder why so many Christians in the church fear questions and don't attempt to figure out their faith. After all, scripture is, for the most part, open ended and free to our interpretation. It is when we look at the whole of scripture as being concrete that we begin to brow beat our brothers and sisters that have not yet been redeemed. I wonder if we should not ask God to see them as he does and give us the compassion to love them as he does. I wonder what that would look like?