Commandeering Jesus
"jesus thinks like me!"
Friends.
We tend to commandeer Jesus, don’t we?
Growing up as a staunch Evangelical who all but memorized his “Systematic Theology” textbook (the one by Wayne Grudem, of course), I had no less than 32,000 different reasons (backed by Bible verses!) as to why Jesus thought like me.
He thought like me.
He voted like me.
He believed like me.
“I mean, DUH. Of course Jesus wouldn’t vote for Obama! Of course Jesus is PRO-LIFE, PRO-WAR, ANTI-LGBTQ. Read your Bible!!”
And then.
I moved over to the Left and became a fiery Progressive-thinking-Christian who would be quick to tell you that you aren’t a “real Christian” …
If you supported Donald Trump.
Refused to wear a mask during COVID.
Weren’t outraged at George Floyd’s murder.
Etc.
And as was true when I stood on the Right, while on the Left I had a NEW set of Bible verses that backed a NEW set of reasons as to why Jesus thought, voted, and believed just. like. me.
On both sides I insisted I was a true Christian.
On both sides I insisted that Jesus stood on MY side.
On both sides I insisted that Jesus looked just like ME.
On both sides I insisted that Jesus was leading ME to take a stand on that side.
Yes.
On “the Right”, I believed that Jesus was leading me to take a stand on “the Right” and all values that “the Right” stands for, while on “the Left”, I believed that Jesus was leading me to take a stand on “the Left” and all values that “the Left” stands for.
Once again, though, I’m evolving in my thoughts about Jesus and rather than trying to find Bible verses and arguments that support my belief that Jesus looks like me and thinks like me and believes like me and votes like me, I’m in a place where I’m trying to let Jesus be Jesus while I try to let me be me.
And what I’m finding is surprising.
What I’m finding is that rather than leading me to stand with the Left or the Right, I’m finding that Jesus is encouraging me to look within - to take a deep look into my own heart of hearts, to listen long and hard to the voice of my own intuition, and to follow …
NOT Jesus.
NOT the Bible.
NOT a set of Christian Progressive / Conservative principles.
BUT.
… to follow my own inner voice wherever it may lead in my pursuit to make the world around me a better place.
In his book “The Aramaic Jesus Book of Days”, Neil Douglas-Klotz says …
“In the end there is no method, path, or way that is a substitute for finding one’s own path. Yeshua (Jesus) confirms this. He points us toward what I have called our heart’s genuine GPS as our guide through life. Awakening this deeper heart rather than its surface was one of his main messages.”
I feel this.
And before you ask, no, I don’t have any Bible verses to “back up my argument” and I don’t have any “systematic theology” to “prove my point” - nothing like that at all.
Instead.
The more I spend time with Christ and the more I meditate on his words found in (and out) of the Gospels, the more I come to a deep awareness or knowing that “the Way” of Jesus …
Isn’t going to lead me to take a stand on “the Left” or “the Right”.
Isn’t going to lead me to insist that I’m right and they’re wrong.
Isn’t going to bring me to a place where I demonize “the other” side.
BUT.
Will encourage me to take a seat before the still, small whisper inside that will very often encourage me to move through life in ways that are quite different than what either “the Left” or “the Right” says is best, to move through life in ways that build tables instead of walls, dialogues instead of arguments, Oneness instead of division.
What’s that all look like? I’m not sure. There is no formula, I don’t think; there is no one way. And what the still small voice inside of YOU says might be very different from what the still small voice in ME says, which (I think) is a good thing because that prevents any one person from becoming the “Gatekeeper” or the “Guru” or the “One Who Hears The Voice The Most Clearly”.
Yes (I think):
The voice in you is a piece of the puzzle.
The voice in me is a piece of the puzzle.
And.
When we come together to share what the voice is leading us each to do in our own parts of the world - perhaps that’s when we put the pieces of the puzzle together to create a more holistic picture of real, lasting change where we can work together and move forward arm in arm even if we don’t see eye to eye on every single thing.
Much love.
Glenn || PATREON / ART STUDIO
Your words speak truth to me and echo what I am learning as I experience God. I must say, it is not comforting to be in a place that is so counterintuitive to what I have learned in my culture. Yet, somehow, I feel it is a more firm foundation than the shifting sands of the world around me.