The only hope for us all

When Jesus came to earth and said he was making all things new, he meant that he was setting everything that is wrong in the world to rights.  When he came he wanted to communicate to the world that he is the answer to everything.  We have known death, pain, sickness, disease, poverty, violence, bitterness, broken relationship, divorce, pollution, greed, anger, and everything else that makes us cringe, writhe, and seethe with anger and despair.  The injustice and un-rightness of it all speaks that there must me a right, there must be something better, there must be a truth.  We have a need for righteousness; for the Kingdom of God.  Jesus is the only way to make things better. 

Jesus came and literally healed the sick and raised the dead which communicates that in his kingdom we aren’t meant to suffer and die, but live forever in health.  He came and brought the power to reconcile relationships because we aren’t supposed to have animosity or hatred or bitterness towards our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends, husbands, wives, children, co-workers, leaders, teachers, pastors, or employers.   We are supposed to live in harmony and peace and forgiveness with one another in healthy community. Marriages are supposed to last because we are supposed to love each other and submit to and serve one another.  It’s a give-give thing.  But we need the power of the resurrected Christ working in us to make us better.  I simply cannot forgive or work through deep rooted issues with people on my own.  I need Jesus to hold my hand and heal my heart and the hearts of those I have hurt in the process.  Jesus loves the families we create and wants us to be healthy and whole.  He fixes the things we break. 

Jesus came feeding the hungry, revealing that in his Kingdom no one goes hungry, no one gets neglected, and everyone gets taken care of as a son or daughter.  Jesus came rebuking the Pharisees teaching that his kingdom isn’t about status or titles or trying to make yourself feel like you have power over someone.  In his kingdom, God is our father, we are all sons and daughters with unique gifts, talents and abilities that we use together to make things beautiful.  Jesus came telling us to turn the other cheek, revealing that in his kingdom there is no war, no violence.  We were meant to be kind and loving and peaceful with one another.    

Jesus came to release the oppressed.  What he did was release us from trying to save ourselves.  He showed us that there are not any more slaves in his kingdom, spiritually and literally.  I personally have been set free from Fear, Doubt, Worry, Rejection, and a works-based salvation mentality.  I am privileged to be a part of a church that set 100 girls free from human trafficking for Christmas.  This is the kingdom realized.  This kingdom is what we crave, and it is what I want to spend my life building.

Buddah would call me to abandon my family, spend a few years starving myself (ascetism is just another form of works-based salvation), and then sit under a tree and empty my mind for forty days hoping to reach enlightenment.  Although I see the benefits of meditation and practice a form of it myself, this path does not set the world to rights.  Buddah would claim that everyone should just try to find the good inside of them and then the world would be a better place.  Clearly all the evils in the world simply wouldn’t exist if that were the case.  Buddah can’t heal the sick, raise the dead, or perform miracles.  Buddah is dead.  He wouldn’t even claim to know that what he knows is definitely true, but it could be true.  I’m sorry, but I need to follow someone who is sure of himself. 

Mohammed claims that everyone who doesn’t believe him and follow him are infidels and he will literally kill you.  Yes, that’s how Islam got started, friends, he hopped on a horse with his sword and took over village after village and said “convert or die”.  I’m just not going to follow him.  Pretty sure I don’t have to say anything else about that.

The very first miracle Jesus performed kept the party going, and that definitely makes me want to spend time with him.  J  He came, taught, performed miracles, and said he was the son of God.  They killed him and three days later he is alive, and people have been rising from the dead in his name for the past two thousand years.  It’s real.  It’s happening all over the world.  The kingdom of God is coming, and it is here.  I’m sick of American, selfish, materialistic, childish, limited, consumer-driven Christianity.  The Jesus I follow is radically different than the image that has been projected by the American church.  Yes, Jesus heals, does miracles, and promises abundant life, but in order for me to receive this kingdom, I have to let go of my life, my desires, my plans, my wants, my needs, even my happiness.  I can’t be the King (Queen) in this kingdom.  Jesus is King and I have to play by his rules.  The good thing is that he has really good rules and gives abundant, full, healthy, content, wonderful life.  Does it mean that I’m going to have everything I want at the exact moment I want it?  Hell no.  Jesus isn’t the Burger King.  But he does promise abundant life in him.  That looks different than the picture American culture paints, but it is the best way.  So I really think that I’m making the best possible decision, giving it all to him.  I wouldn’t trade this contentment, joy, peace, love, and energy for anything else out there.  Anything. 

I want Jesus, I want his kingdom, I want all of it, and I want it forever.  If Jesus is doing crazy awesome miracles in other parts of the world, I want it here.  If he is healing and reconciling broken relationships and marriages anywhere, I want it here and I want it now.  If Jesus is feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and taking care of the least of these, I want to be a part of it.  The miracle of the kingdom is literally happening now.  Jesus heals people physically and emotionally, Jesus saves people, and the path of Jesus is the only hope for us all.