According to Scripture, Jesus Christ (and not a doctrine about Him) is the truth. In addition, Jesus Christ (and not an ethic derived from His teaching) is the way. In other words, both God's truth and God's way are embodied in a living, breathing person - Christ (pg. 80).To me, that is a powerful reminder not to allow anything to take the place of my allegiance to the person of Christ. Jesus cannot be separated from His teachings and the person Jesus obviously does not contradict the truth laid down in Scripture. However, I never want to make anything a substitute for Jesus.
But its so easy to do . . . People, without even being conscious of it, substitute simply following the person Jesus for a political agenda, a cause they believe in, a theological system, a ministry goal, etc.
Do I have theological convictions I would fight for? - Absolutely! Do I think there are clear ways that Christians should and should not live? - Of course!
But I never want to forget that Jesus can't be subordinated to a single theological system and His teachings are never a means to an end for my agenda. Jesus is bigger than all of those things and I never want to miss being challenged by Him and by His Word to something new and fresh.
What do you think? Do you think people can get caught up following a theological system or pursuing another good agenda and drift away from following the person Jesus? How can we keep ourselves focused on Him?
I haven't read the Jesus Manifesto. Do you recommend it?
ReplyDeleteDo you think people can get caught up following a theological system or pursuing another good agenda and drift away from following the person Jesus? YES
How can we keep ourselves focused on Him? GOOD QUESTION. Food for thought. Thanks.
Soon after reading the blog last week I was reading an article in a pamphlet that had come in the mail.The two seemed to connect. the article was written by Rear Admiral Barry c. Black,ret., 62nd Chaplain of the United States Senate,and read as follows,"Our Liberator...His name is Jesus." "What I would challange people to embrace today, is to fall in love with our Liberator. His name is Jesus.And if you fall in love with Him, He will take you places you never dreamed of.God's plan for our lives is much bigger than anything we could ever dream.You're talking about possibility thinking.Most of what has happened to me , I could never have even dreamed of.That's the big God I love and serve." Always have a question why so many seem to want to walk as close to the other side as possible,and still stay in the good graces of the church?? Seems to me that both the blog and the article should encourage us , as far as is possible, to follow in Jesus steps. HSM
ReplyDeleteI absolutely recommend Jesus Manifesto. . . It just came out and its a great book.
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