I was listening to a podcast I subscribe to last weekend and the guest speaker was a woman named Margaret Feinberg whose book, “The Organic God,” I read about a year and a half ago. I found the book fairly interesting as Ms. Feinberg reflected on the experiences of her life and how they helped shape and form her perception of God and how He works in her life. I love hearing peoples stories. Whether or not they are Christians I believe there is value in the lives of all six billion people that are just trying to make there way through life on this ball-shaped rock that is spinning through our universe without our control. I think there are lessons in life to learn and sometimes the best way to learn them is found in someone else’s story. But as I listened to Ms. Feinberg reflecting in this podcast she reminded me of something she wrote in her book that I had forgotten about.
She related a story about a conversation she had with someone who explained that when talking to people about Jesus, he doesn’t really bombard them with questions or even scripture verses. He simply asks them what they love about Jesus. What a disarming question but at the same time extremely provocative. Because there are boatloads of people who don’t go to church or who aren’t Christians but still have a great respect and appreciation for the man, Jesus. I mean, His existence isn’t in question by any serious scholar or historian and His teachings are probably the most well known and even respected across the entire scope of human history. So asking someone what he or she loves about Jesus is a very culturally relevant question.
Ms. Feinberg went on to describe how she loves the beauty of Jesus and I won’t try to regurgitate all that comes with her saying that. You can get the book if you’re interested in unpacking what she means by His beauty. But it got me thinking about what I love about Jesus. If I were to sum it up in just a few words, what would it be? Those of us that have been Christians for a while will have the tendency to make a list of all the amazing things Jesus represents so we don’t miss anything about who He is. Because we can’t have that, no, we have to represent our whole understanding of Him or we may offend Him. How myopic our thinking is sometimes. But what if I resist that urge? What if I set out to just make it simple and raw and real? What do I love about Jesus?
For me, I think it is His reckless acceptance. The gospels are full of example after example of His willingness to share a meal or have a conversation or lend a hand to even the most outcaste, marginalized people. From tax collectors, to adulterers, to promiscuous women, to lepers, Jesus accepts them all. He even shared meals with ultra-religious people. Can you imagine? Yes, it is His reckless acceptance that draws me, and just about everyone else, to Him.
But not just His reckless acceptance of those people we read about in the Bible. It’s His acceptance of me that compels me to come to this answer. With all my imperfections and all my mistakes and all my failures and all my excuses and all my crap, He still accepts me. In fact it is the disaster that is John that he accepts and not some perfect or better form of me that I may, one day, achieve if I work hard enough. He even accepts my filth and all the more because of it. This is what I love about Jesus.
What about you? What do you love about Jesus? I’d love to know and to hear part of your story.
She related a story about a conversation she had with someone who explained that when talking to people about Jesus, he doesn’t really bombard them with questions or even scripture verses. He simply asks them what they love about Jesus. What a disarming question but at the same time extremely provocative. Because there are boatloads of people who don’t go to church or who aren’t Christians but still have a great respect and appreciation for the man, Jesus. I mean, His existence isn’t in question by any serious scholar or historian and His teachings are probably the most well known and even respected across the entire scope of human history. So asking someone what he or she loves about Jesus is a very culturally relevant question.
Ms. Feinberg went on to describe how she loves the beauty of Jesus and I won’t try to regurgitate all that comes with her saying that. You can get the book if you’re interested in unpacking what she means by His beauty. But it got me thinking about what I love about Jesus. If I were to sum it up in just a few words, what would it be? Those of us that have been Christians for a while will have the tendency to make a list of all the amazing things Jesus represents so we don’t miss anything about who He is. Because we can’t have that, no, we have to represent our whole understanding of Him or we may offend Him. How myopic our thinking is sometimes. But what if I resist that urge? What if I set out to just make it simple and raw and real? What do I love about Jesus?
For me, I think it is His reckless acceptance. The gospels are full of example after example of His willingness to share a meal or have a conversation or lend a hand to even the most outcaste, marginalized people. From tax collectors, to adulterers, to promiscuous women, to lepers, Jesus accepts them all. He even shared meals with ultra-religious people. Can you imagine? Yes, it is His reckless acceptance that draws me, and just about everyone else, to Him.
But not just His reckless acceptance of those people we read about in the Bible. It’s His acceptance of me that compels me to come to this answer. With all my imperfections and all my mistakes and all my failures and all my excuses and all my crap, He still accepts me. In fact it is the disaster that is John that he accepts and not some perfect or better form of me that I may, one day, achieve if I work hard enough. He even accepts my filth and all the more because of it. This is what I love about Jesus.
What about you? What do you love about Jesus? I’d love to know and to hear part of your story.
1 comment:
I love that Jesus took the time to serve. I mean, he had disciples following him around and he still found the time to talk to the Samaritan woman at the well. One person at a time, all at once. That's how His love works. That always opens me up to do more for others. Even if it seems rather menial or beneath me.
I once took a mission trip to Mexico, and the campus there had all the chores listed for the day. They would ask "Who wants to wash the dishes?" And someone would begrudgingly mumble yes. At that time, i was so under the influence of Christ's love and servant's heart that i couldn't help but shout when they asked "who's gonna scrub the John?" I was so inflamed, the people all thot i was crazy! Some of my fondest memories are of there.
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