Your Jesus My Jesus

Two Christians were having a conversation about an issue that they disagreed on and as is the case in our current climate the disagreement got contentious. One of the Christians said to the other Christian MY JESUS would do it my way Because my way is the right way. The other Christian responded I thought your Jesus and my Jesus were the same, Jesus.

We live in a time when there is an emphasis on a personal relationship with Jesus, and while each of us should have a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior, we must also remember that the Jesus that we serve is the same for all of us. The Jesus that went to the cross on Calvary and died, was buried, and rose again on the third day is the same Jesus for all of us, and we need to make sure that we are not over personalizing Jesus. We need to be careful that we are not creating Jesus in our own image. You may recall that in the Bible there was a group of individuals that was sure that they knew and understood the motives of the Messiah. They knew how the Messiah would speak and they knew how the Messiah would act, the problem was when Jesus came along he did not speak or act like they thought the Messiah should act, and to add insult to injury he was raised in some backwater town called Nazareth by some unimportant individuals named Mary and Joseph. The Jewish religious leaders thought that they knew what the Messiah would be like. They were wrong.

One thing that is unmistakable about us as human beings are that when we have an opinion, we think we are right. Sometimes we are right and believe it or not, sometimes we are wrong. We are imperfect people serving a perfect God and it is dangerous to attribute our motives to Jesus' motives. We must always remember that we are made in God's image, God is not made in our image. When it comes to Jesus there is no you're Jesus, or my Jesus, there is only Jesus. Jesus who came to die so that we may live. Jesus who walked with humanity and experienced what it was like to be human but never sinned. Jesus who was buried and arose early Sunday morning. Jesus who now sits at the right hand of his father. Jesus who will return. There is no your Jesus or my Jesus there is the Jesus who stands with his arms open ready to accept all who will come to him.