Let me tell you about Jesus!

Reflecting on Luke 8:26-39

"The man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him." (Luke 8:39)

What stands out to me today is how this man could not stop talking about Jesus.
Jesus tells him to spread the word about what God had done for him.
Instead the man tells everyone about what Jesus had done for him.
While I cannot relate to his specific case, I do relate to this part of his story.
For me I cannot talk about God without talking about Jesus.

Twenty years ago I had a faith crisis that led me to Jesus.
I was a committed christian, and a pastor, but my faith was coming undone.
I accepted the christian faith as a system, but I did not believe it personally.
My language to describe this was ‘churchianity’.
I was possessed by a legion of doctrines and beliefs – orthodoxy.
But inwardly I was struggling, it seemed hollow and lifeless.

My understanding of God was theoretical and abstract, it was impersonal.
Preaching weekly and studying the bible did not help me.
The more I thought about it, the less real it felt to me.
For a brief time I teetered towards unbelief.
In that time, my focus shifted toward Jesus and the Jesus stories.
I was drawn toward and compelled by Jesus and the Jesus Way.
Jesus was the picture of God that I wanted to believe.

Still today Jesus is the way I experience and understand God.
When asked to speak about God, I can only speak about Jesus.
If you ask me what God is like, I will tell you what Jesus is like.
The way Jesus lived, loved, cared and shared…
The way Jesus humbly served, suffered for others, blessed others.
The way Jesus was gracious and merciful and forgiving.
Jesus was a living expression of what God told Moses He was like:

“The Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.'” (Exodus 34:5-7)

This is the God and Jesus I cannot help speaking about.
People tell me I should read the whole bible equally.
But Jesus is not equal to the rest of the bible for me; He stands apart.
The rest of the bible is like shadows and symbols, signs that point the way.
But Jesus draws me into the experience of God like no other person or story.
When I see Jesus, I see God.
And this is a great comfort to me.

What strikes me most of all was how sinners and strugglers were drawn to Jesus.
In my experience, sinners and strugglers were not drawn to christians.
My own way of living as a christian did not feel like Jesus to me.
Since I’ve started focusing on Jesus, I’ve felt that disconnect more and more.
There’s more churchianity than Jesus in the christian faith as I see it.
Its focus is on churches, theological truth, worship gatherings, morality policing.
It is known for what and who it is against; people are not drawn in by it.

For a while I was critical and judgmental of the church (I still am).
But knowing Jesus is convicting and challenging me about this.
Jesus has set me free from the demon of judgmental christianity.
So why then do I go back to the same judgmental spirit I was saved from.
Jesus has invited me into love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness.
The Spirit of Jesus is prompting me towards faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
This is what I was drawn to in Jesus.
This is what I want to experience and express as a Jesus follower.
Jesus is slowly breaking the chains in me of my religious demons.
Jesus is setting me free, and telling me to go and talk about God.
Not the theological God, but the God I’ve met in Jesus.

And so I will keep on talking about Jesus.
The love of Jesus compels me to know and to show the love of Jesus!
For Jesus is the only way I know about God.
And Jesus is the only way I want others to know about God.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, You are the face of God to me, and I see and experience the gracious goodness and love of God through You. You have set me free from my religious bondage, and You are still setting me free from its lingering remnants. For me, all my religion is garbage; I want to know You, and I want to make You known!