During our time of transition, my family is attending worship at Mountain Community Fellowship (www.mcfpainstville.com). It is a great new church working hard to pursue a healthy church model and reach people for Christ. Two weeks ago, their Lead Pastor, Jason Hutchinson, shared a timely illustration during his message. He spoke about how many have come to view Jesus more as the Jesus found in a Children’s Bible rather than the true Jesus found in The Holy Scripture! It is a powerful truth!
Now hear me well, I am not against the use of Children’s Bibles (and I’m sure I can speak for Pastor Jason and say he is not either). My family is currently using The Big Picture Story Bible by David Helm as part of our family devotions. The pictures keep my 4 year old son interested, and my 6 year old daughter helps read the stories. Children’s Bibles are a wonderful tool to help introduce young ones to the Bible, God, Jesus, and salvation!
The problem occurs when churches and pulpits in general have adopted a Children’s Bible Jesus instead of the Jesus of Scripture. As Pastor Jason put it, “I have not found one Children’s Bible yet that shows Jesus driving people out of the Temple or calling the Pharisees hypocrites!” In other words, the stories of Children’s Bibles tend to only portray the aspects of Jesus’ life and teachings that are comforting to us. However, the true Jesus, the One portrayed in the Gospels, can be very uncomfortable!
The true Jesus calls us to take up a cross! The true Jesus gets angry with religious pride, bigotry, and hypocrisy. The true Jesus calls us to hate all other relationships in light of our relationship with Him. The true Jesus is not a chummy character begging us to just ask Him in our hearts! The true Jesus is Lord and demands our complete allegiance and worship! The true Jesus didn’t just die on the cross to show us how much He loved us, but on the cross He bore the wrath of God that was directed toward us!
The true Jesus does not fit well into our American, comfort-seeking, self-pleasing, possession-building, pride-boosting ego! The true Jesus calls us to die to self in order to find true life in Him. The true Jesus can be very uncomfortable!
But if we want to worship the true Jesus, then we must go to the source where He is revealed most clearly - the Word of God! Find that Jesus and follow Him, for only when you encounter, follow, and worship the true Jesus will you ever find true salvation!
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