Skip to main content

When People Meet Jesus

I was once about 10 feet away from Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson, who had recently helped Michigan State win a National Championship. Never heard of them? That’s ok, it’s college basketball.From 1999.

I got to meet the members of DC Talk backstage after a concert. Never heard of them? That hurts a little, since they are a favorite band of mine that is no longer together, but I understand.

Then there was this time I was in the same room as Mel Gibson. He was speaking about this new movie he had made. It was about some guy named Jesus. Wait, you’ve heard of him? Or do you mean Him?

Ah, Jesus. You may have heard of Mel Gibson as well, but if you’re like me, being in the same room did not change my life much...or at all. Neither did meeting DC Talk or seeing some basketball players.

But the same cannot be said for those who met Jesus.

People who met Jesus never forgot the experience. If they were blind, they went away with sight. If they were deaf, then all of the sudden they could hear. The crippled were able to run and the lame were made cool.

Ok, I may have made up that last one. But when people met Jesus, they left changed. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t always for the better. Those who seemed to be wise left confused. Some who had good plans walked away frustrated. For those who did not trust or could not believe, they simply walked away.

All were changed by their meeting with Jesus.

Have you been changed? Or did your life just kind of keep going as it had always gone. I believe that's what happened when I first said I was giving my life to Jesus. But that's because I only said I was giving my life. I didn't actually give my life. That would come with time.

I believe that it is impossible for a life not to be changed if we give it to Jesus. It's not because He will instantly make us a missionary to some third-world country or have us join a traveling troupe of singers, like Wiggles for Jesus. I have to believe Jesus would strike that group down with laryngitis before they even got on their tour bus. But that's besides the point.

I believe our lives change because our focus changes. Whereas all of our prior decisions were made based on what we wanted, now our decisions are made based on what Jesus wants. It's the difference between living selfishly and living selflessly.

So what does your life look like? Does it reflect Jesus? If it doesn't, let me ask a pointed question. Have you really met Jesus? I said earlier that people who meet Jesus never forgot the experience. More succinctly, people who met Jesus lived every other experience in connection to meeting Jesus. It changed everything.

Everything.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl
Post a Comment
Read more

Patience

I am more than halfway through the last year of dropping one of my children off at school. It's my eighth grade daughter, for anyone keeping track of my family.  See, next year she will be at the high school, and her brother will drive her. He says that it's not cool for seniors to drive their freshman sister to school, but I bet it's cooler than being dropped off by your mom in a minivan.  So rather than groan about this daily responsibility, I've been reminiscing about what the drop-off line used to look like, way back in elementary school. Once our children were about halfway through their elementary years, the drop-off line became a test of patience.  Do you know which group you do not want to get caught behind in the parent drop-off line at an elementary school? The kindergartners. These little ones are barely able to walk, but now we put them in the high-pressure situation of trying to unbuckle their seat-belt, grab their backpack (which might be as tall as they a
Post a Comment
Read more

Jury Duty

I was recently summoned to jury duty. I know, groan. Except I didn't. I had never experienced it before and was curious to see what it was like.   When the day to report arrives, they separate you into groups, asking various questions to decide if you will be selected to serve. Do you know the accused? Do you have conflicts that would keep you from serving? Can you stay focused?  I wanted to answer well, if only because my kids kept wishing me luck the day before, telling me they hoped I made the team. After all, who wants to be rejected? It occurred to me that there are things you probably shouldn’t say right away if you’re wanting to serve on a jury. I know, I know, people don’t typically want to serve on a jury. But that list didn’t seem nearly as humorous to me. Here are the things you probably shouldn’t say if you want to be selected for jury. I hold myself in contempt. You can’t handle the truth. We find the defendant guilty. I believe the judge looks pretty in his robe. I’d
Post a Comment
Read more