Jesus Loves You!

No other name makes you more uncomfortable.

Of course you’ve never met Jesus, and so many people have such different viewpoints of this preacher from Israel. Yet people talk about him as if he’s alive right now. Christians pray to Jesus, speak to Jesus, and tell others that Jesus Loves You.

Many times I would be in a public place and someone would talk about Jesus. Immediately an uncomfortable feeling would come over me. There is something uncomfortable talking about Jesus in every day life.

Perhaps you feel the same. Perhaps you would even feel awkward if someone even saw you reading an article like this.

What do you think of when you hear that name? What emotions do you feel?

• Do you see a street preacher with a sign “Repent or perish”?
• Do you see an angry pastor at a church? Or relive hours of boredom at church as a child.
• Do you see fuzzy clouds with a bearded guy?
• Perhaps the person of Jesus is foreign to you.

I for one had no idea who this person was until a Muslim came to me in an accusatory fashion saying, “You Christians think that after you die Jesus is going to let you into heaven?” That person continued to explain that Mohammad and Jesus and God will be judging everyone and that Jesus would deny all the Christians.

I went to church as a child so in regards to religion, all Americans were Christians. My first thought was nothing more than “Why is this Muslim so determined for me to have nothing to do with Jesus. I don’t even know who Jesus is.”

So, not wanting to be mis-informed, I started researching Jesus, and immediately found that there were even more people who seemed to hate Jesus. I skimmed over article after article written to deny that Jesus existed.

I was astounded.

It seems as if thousands of people were bitterly angry at this man they never met. I wondered why.

So I thought I would get a differing opinion. I found myself spending a fair amount of time listening to different pastors. They seem to know more about Jesus than I did.

After a few months, the consistent message that I heard over and over was that Jesus wanted a commitment from me. Every pastor would ask people to come up and give their lives to Jesus. Some would ask people to raise their hands. Others gave commitment cards.

One day, out of the blue, something happened…

I was in my car about to pull out of the garage, and I stopped and put the car in park. It seemed like an epiphany moment. After reflecting for about a minute, I said “Jesus, if you’re real, I will give you the rest of my life.”

Suddenly, my thoughts raced! I looked up to the sky looking for angels, or at least a light beaming into my window. Nothing of the sort.

Just a deep felt commitment that had nothing to do with me trying to be any different, live any different, or even going to church. I just chose to be one of those people.

The other message that I remember from the past preaching was that there is nothing you can do to change yourself. So I did nothing different. I just went to work, came home, and lived life as normal.

Until…

A lot of the secret things that no one knew about, I had to give up and stop. I would just feel so bad about it, that I had to stop.

After a few months of this, I had the strangest desire. I had to go to church. This was foreign, but I had to go. Somewhere. I had to just go.

After another few months I built the courage to go. So off I went, into the lion’s den…

Actually the pastor wasn’t there.

The pastor was on vacation. He went to the Indianapolis 500, and the youth group was leading the service, talking about their trip to the mountains.

“I made it this far, I guess I need to come back next week to hear what the pastor says”, I thought. So I went back the next week.

The next week the pastor was teaching about the bible and I found it fascinating. Then at the end of service an older gentleman came up to me and asked if I wanted to have lunch. I figured it couldn’t hurt. He didn’t say much. He just listened to everything that had been happening.

So I decided to go back regularly. After a few months, I was baptized and I started the journey of faith, not knowing what to expect. I’ve been walking with God for the past 15 years, and I know one thing. He is real.

…

As with meeting someone for the first time, you don’t know them. It takes time. For me it has taken some time to get to know this Jesus, and I am still growing in knowing Him.

There are some things that I can tell you about Him.

He is the most gentle, kind, loving person you could ever meet. He is not afraid of anything, including expressing emotions. He will freely give you anything he has. He has no value for the things of this world, but immense value for people, including you.

But He is also unexpected and he has high requirements. He has the highest sense of nobility and virtue you could ever comprehend. And he will test you so you can see yourself in truth.

He will go to the very edge of your comfort zone, and ask you to jump.

And he will catch you every time.

Jesus has never offended you and will never offend you, unless you are narrow-minded. If you are not willing to let go of sin, traditions, and mindsets, you will be offended. If He says something is wrong, it is far better to trust Him than learn the hard lesson.

Jesus is also safe. He doesn’t criticize or mock. He corrects. He gives you confidence that you never had as an uncertain child navigating this world without direction. He fulfills ever need of your life, and his presence gives such a fullness of Joy, that you never want to leave.

He is so deeply personal, yet so strong and firm in who He is. Jesus is the only King who demands that every subject of His Kingdom has a deeply intense personal relationship with Him. No one else is admitted.

The door to the Kingdom is at the cross. When He was crucified so that your sins could be washed way. It is the one and only way. And it is so kind of God that he would give people a way to Know Him.

There is no other way. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to God the Father outside of Him. We only have one life. Then we die and stand before this Jesus.

And on that Day of Judgment, Jesus will say to some, come, enter into the Kingdom. And to others He will say, depart from me, for I never knew you.

Get to know Jesus, even if it feels uncomfortable.