Post by Don Gieseke on Apr 12, 2021 16:28:00 GMT -6
Believing in Jesus is NOT the main thing. The late Fred Craddock tells about a missionary friend of his who was for thirty years a missionary to China and was under house arrest for three years. They said they would release him if he promised to go home. He said he would. So he sent word to his missionary society and they sent him money for transportation, and he took a ship. He went down to India to catch the ship, and while in that coastal city before leaving he heard that there were a lot of Jews sleeping in the barn lofts of that city.
They had been denied entrance to every country in the world except that one, and they had gone inland and were living in barn lofts. It was Christmas time. So this missionary went around to those barn lofts and said to the Jews, “It’s Christmas! What would you like for Christmas?” They said, “We’re Jews. We don’t celebrate Christmas.” He said, “I know, but what would you like?” They said, “We’re not followers of Jesus. We don’t celebrate Christmas.” He said, “I know. But if somebody gave you something anyway what would you want?” They said, “Well, we’d like some good German pastry.” “Good,” he said. So he went around looking, and finally found some German pastry at some shop there in the city. After cashing his passage check, he took boxes of German pastries to these Jews and said, “Merry Christmas!” Then he wired his missionary society and said, “I need a ticket home.” Now, when that story was being told, said Craddock, there was a young seminarian sitting in the front row, and he was absolutely incensed. He said to this missionary, “Why did you do that? They don’t believe in Jesus!” And this missionary said, “I know they don’t, but I do. I do.”
We don’t have to get people to believe in Jesus – that is not our mission. Our mission is to express and embody the love of God revealed to us in Jesus. Our mission is to keep the new commandment to love as Jesus loved, which is the great commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. Now, I have no hesitancy saying to people this: If you trust in the love of Jesus and you are faithful to follow the way of Jesus, which is what it actually means to believe in Jesus, the love of Jesus, which is the way of Jesus, can make you a better person. It can empower you to orient your life around the values that God deems important.
The way of Jesus can inspire you and empower you to love and care and give of yourself for others in sacrificial ways. It can compel you to stand with the most vulnerable and be their voice and stand against injustices and work for what is good and right for all people. Following Jesus can do that, but if someone wants you to believe in their version of Jesus that would not make you a more open, welcoming, justice-seeking, compassionate person, but would actually make you sexist or racist and less compassionate, then for heaven’s sake don’t believe in Jesus. Believing in Jesus only works if the Jesus you believe in is a compassionate, inclusive, caring, justice-seeking person who embodies the love and grace and truth of God.
From PilotsForChrist FB page
They had been denied entrance to every country in the world except that one, and they had gone inland and were living in barn lofts. It was Christmas time. So this missionary went around to those barn lofts and said to the Jews, “It’s Christmas! What would you like for Christmas?” They said, “We’re Jews. We don’t celebrate Christmas.” He said, “I know, but what would you like?” They said, “We’re not followers of Jesus. We don’t celebrate Christmas.” He said, “I know. But if somebody gave you something anyway what would you want?” They said, “Well, we’d like some good German pastry.” “Good,” he said. So he went around looking, and finally found some German pastry at some shop there in the city. After cashing his passage check, he took boxes of German pastries to these Jews and said, “Merry Christmas!” Then he wired his missionary society and said, “I need a ticket home.” Now, when that story was being told, said Craddock, there was a young seminarian sitting in the front row, and he was absolutely incensed. He said to this missionary, “Why did you do that? They don’t believe in Jesus!” And this missionary said, “I know they don’t, but I do. I do.”
We don’t have to get people to believe in Jesus – that is not our mission. Our mission is to express and embody the love of God revealed to us in Jesus. Our mission is to keep the new commandment to love as Jesus loved, which is the great commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. Now, I have no hesitancy saying to people this: If you trust in the love of Jesus and you are faithful to follow the way of Jesus, which is what it actually means to believe in Jesus, the love of Jesus, which is the way of Jesus, can make you a better person. It can empower you to orient your life around the values that God deems important.
The way of Jesus can inspire you and empower you to love and care and give of yourself for others in sacrificial ways. It can compel you to stand with the most vulnerable and be their voice and stand against injustices and work for what is good and right for all people. Following Jesus can do that, but if someone wants you to believe in their version of Jesus that would not make you a more open, welcoming, justice-seeking, compassionate person, but would actually make you sexist or racist and less compassionate, then for heaven’s sake don’t believe in Jesus. Believing in Jesus only works if the Jesus you believe in is a compassionate, inclusive, caring, justice-seeking person who embodies the love and grace and truth of God.
From PilotsForChrist FB page