He jumped in the pool!
Jesus became a Human being, what more can be said about this? This is the most covered event in the history of the planet. He for better and mostly for worst joined Himself to the human race. That human race He joined would include Hitler, Mother Theresa, and Ted Bundy, Gandhi and You and I. You see he wasn’t choosey and He wasn’t leaving anybody out. We will get to the Hitler and Bundy part in a bit (it’s not the most important part!).
He chose you and me as we are. He chose us not on our best days, nor our worst days. He chose the muddled mass of who we really in total are, the good and bad, and the mostly in between. Jesus Christ loves the gritty human race. He is not stuck on the overachievers who manage to get their acts together sort of. He is not stuck on the disciplined and the noble. He is stuck on YOU.
He is stuck on you who have thoughts you wouldn’t want anybody to know. He is stuck on you who chooses X box game boy over prayer, or me who chooses NBA playoffs over bible reading. He is weirdly, completely stuck on us. I can’t stress His commitment level to the Human race enough. He chose us on our worst days, not our best days. He didn’t just sit on his big chair in the sky and pick the few the brave and the courageous. He jumped in the crowded soiled kiddy pool with the bullies, the cowards, the splashers and all the rest. When he got in the pool he didn’t blow His lifeguard whistle and make everybody behave. He just swam around the pool loving each one; including the one who held Him under till He expired. That’s Jesus. He is completely approachable, completely forgiving, tirelessly swimming toward us, His one love.
This commitment level is unexplainable and like nothing we have ever seen or experienced. We simply do not believe there is a love like this. The only thing we know to do is fear a being like this and distance ourselves a little. We distance ourselves a little so we can start our little efforts to control him. This usually boils down to religion.
Religion is the human races constant struggle to control God through some kind of ritual, behavior or creed. We find it way too scary to just walk unprotected into His presence, which Jesus (who tells us to call God Our Father) and Paul (enter his presence boldly says Paul) insists is freely given to us.
This love precludes any of our efforts because he chose us before we had done anything good or bad and made us blameless. He took care of all your sin problems, your laziness, my selfishness, my betrayals, before during and after we did these things.
This is crazy! He loved the world, the real Auschwitz, Chernobyl, Sistine chapel world to the point of death on a cross. He would do anything to rescue this world and show its citizens that He is not scary and not judging us! What are his last words as the bully held his head under water in the pool? “Father forgive them; they really don’t know what they are doing.”
Before I sign off let me say this about Mr. Bundy and Mr. Hitler. He loves them too. They may not choose to be a part of this forgiveness party; but they are invited. It’s important they are invited because it’s one more proof that those of us who aren’t mass murderers might get a free pass also.
Oh one last thing. I too struggle to get comfortable with this love. It’s hard to take. So when I am choosing to ignore this love and living in the dark; I am really in the Light of His love as he waits patiently for me to enjoy Him. That’s our Jesus, the Light and savior of the world!
He chose you and me as we are. He chose us not on our best days, nor our worst days. He chose the muddled mass of who we really in total are, the good and bad, and the mostly in between. Jesus Christ loves the gritty human race. He is not stuck on the overachievers who manage to get their acts together sort of. He is not stuck on the disciplined and the noble. He is stuck on YOU.
He is stuck on you who have thoughts you wouldn’t want anybody to know. He is stuck on you who chooses X box game boy over prayer, or me who chooses NBA playoffs over bible reading. He is weirdly, completely stuck on us. I can’t stress His commitment level to the Human race enough. He chose us on our worst days, not our best days. He didn’t just sit on his big chair in the sky and pick the few the brave and the courageous. He jumped in the crowded soiled kiddy pool with the bullies, the cowards, the splashers and all the rest. When he got in the pool he didn’t blow His lifeguard whistle and make everybody behave. He just swam around the pool loving each one; including the one who held Him under till He expired. That’s Jesus. He is completely approachable, completely forgiving, tirelessly swimming toward us, His one love.
This commitment level is unexplainable and like nothing we have ever seen or experienced. We simply do not believe there is a love like this. The only thing we know to do is fear a being like this and distance ourselves a little. We distance ourselves a little so we can start our little efforts to control him. This usually boils down to religion.
Religion is the human races constant struggle to control God through some kind of ritual, behavior or creed. We find it way too scary to just walk unprotected into His presence, which Jesus (who tells us to call God Our Father) and Paul (enter his presence boldly says Paul) insists is freely given to us.
This love precludes any of our efforts because he chose us before we had done anything good or bad and made us blameless. He took care of all your sin problems, your laziness, my selfishness, my betrayals, before during and after we did these things.
This is crazy! He loved the world, the real Auschwitz, Chernobyl, Sistine chapel world to the point of death on a cross. He would do anything to rescue this world and show its citizens that He is not scary and not judging us! What are his last words as the bully held his head under water in the pool? “Father forgive them; they really don’t know what they are doing.”
Before I sign off let me say this about Mr. Bundy and Mr. Hitler. He loves them too. They may not choose to be a part of this forgiveness party; but they are invited. It’s important they are invited because it’s one more proof that those of us who aren’t mass murderers might get a free pass also.
Oh one last thing. I too struggle to get comfortable with this love. It’s hard to take. So when I am choosing to ignore this love and living in the dark; I am really in the Light of His love as he waits patiently for me to enjoy Him. That’s our Jesus, the Light and savior of the world!
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