The Jesus some of us imagine is the Hollywood Jesus: stoic, mild mannered, soft-spoken, somewhat dull and emotionless. Yet as the stories in the Bible make clear, Jesus was no otherworldly droid, immune to human emotions and pain, shuffling about dispensing miracles.
There’s a story about a man suffering from leprosy: “While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean’” (Luke 5:12). Those stricken with leprosy were outcasts. People would have avoided this man. It may have been years since someone had touched him, since a hand had rested on his shoulder in a moment of comfort. “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean,” he said to Jesus. He didn’t doubt Jesus’ ability, only His willingness to heal him. It had been that long since this man felt kindness and compassion from another person.
We know from other stories that Jesus could have instantly healed the man with a simple command, like “be healed.” However, Jesus did something different. He did something radical. Jesus first gave the man what he needed most.
Picture the man on his knees with his face to the ground, perhaps afraid to look up, perhaps afraid he’d see Jesus turn His back on him and walk away. Now picture Jesus kneeling down in front of the man, and then … “Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man” (verse 13). I like to picture Jesus gently squeezing the man’s shoulder, followed by the man tentatively lifting his head and looking up. Seeing the compassion in Jesus’ face and feeling it in the hand on his shoulder, tears well up in the man’s eyes, run down his leprosy-scarred cheeks and into his beard.
The point is, for the first time in perhaps years, another person touched this lonely, outcast of a human being. Jesus gave the man what he needed most—love and compassion. In the midst of the emotion swelling within the man, Jesus then said, “I am willing. Be clean,” and the man was immediately healed of leprosy.
I never understood the sadness until my own children were grown and out on their own. But giving me a preview of coming emotions, my mom showed me how sad she would become every time I left home after a weekend visit. I thought she was being overly emotional. I now share her feelings whenever my sons leave after a visit home.
My wife and I miss those days when our sons lived at home; we miss the closeness, and being a part of each other’s lives. My purposes in my relationships with my sons have evolved as they’ve grown from babies into men. However, one thing that never changes is my overwhelming desire to be with them and to show my love for them.
God is patient, kind, compassionate, humble, unbiased, all-forgiving, and protective—such is God’s character. God’s primary purpose, the one that His character and other purposes point to, is to live with us and express His unconditional love for us. God’s purpose is to have His children return home. As Jesus said, “and we will come to them and make our home with them.” And God makes a way for us to return, to the way it was in the beginning, before Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. As Andrew Murray said:
“When God established the plan of redemption, His objective was to restore man to the place from which he had fallen.” 1
To restore us to the place from which humanity had fallen, to bring His children back home—this is what salvation, God’s ultimate purpose, is all about.
“My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:40)
“For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9 NRSV)
Like Neo in the movie The Matrix, was I living in a world of deception? Neo was an unwitting prisoner in a computer-generated, virtual reality world—the Matrix. While Neo may have suspected something was wrong with his reality, he didn’t know there was another world out there, the real world, beyond the virtual world of his experience. Then Morpheus, another Matrix character, called Neo to wake up to the truth.
About twenty years ago, I first suspected I was living in a human-generated version of Christianity, where though it was put forth as true to what Jesus lived and taught, it wasn’t. I began to sense another Christianity out there, a real Christianity, beyond the Christianity of my experience. And it felt like Morpheus was calling me to wake up to the truth, a truth hidden beneath the graffiti of church history and human nature.
I struggled through those years, trying to understand what I was feeling and why. At first, I didn’t know what to do about my feelings, or how to respond to that imagined Morpheus voice. Then, realizing that “Christianity” and “Christian” are manmade terms subject to human definition and manipulation, I felt a growing desire to know how Jesus would define Christianity. What would Jesus say it means to be a Christian? So, I listened to the voice.
Eventually, a new image seeped into my mind, an image that helped solidify my resolve to search for the truth of Christianity. Picture a Bible resting on a table. The Bible—the collection of historical documents that defines Jesus’ version of Christianity—was compiled a few centuries after Jesus showed us His Christianity. Then, as the centuries ticked by, men added other books.
Where Jesus’ Christianity and what it means to be Christian is defined by God’s word as recorded in the Bible, manmade versions of Christianity are often defined and governed by those manmade rulebooks. Now, looking at that pile of books, where’s Jesus’ Christianity?
Stepping back to take in the bigger picture painted by the Bible, a new question snuck in. Why? Why are we the way we are? Why is there so much evil in the world? Why is life sometimes so difficult? Why is peace with each other, and even with God, sometimes so unattainable? And why is it so hard to believe? Without falling too deeply into philosophical notions, I guess I just wanted to know what life’s all about—the elusive meaning of life.
So much of life felt either meaningless or perilous. I wanted something solid and unchanging to hold onto, a safe place in the midst of this conspiracy-theory-dominated, truth-starved, war-rattled, chaotic world. I was craving meaning and a purpose I could believe in without fear and doubts, and I wasn’t finding that in the church I was attending.
Then it happened, a situation at church. I mean, this was a big deal. It wounded me and left me confused. That’s not true Christianity, is it? I kept asking myself. That can’t be what Jesus has in mind. The episode added to my sense of a false Christianity, a Christianity matrix that had been holding me, and those sitting in the pews next to me, captive.
I have friends who found freedom from similar situations by quitting Christianity. I wasn’t interested in going that far. Instead, I quit that church. I visited other churches around town, yet nothing felt right, and I didn’t know why. The whole experience was disorienting and depressing. I eventually decided to go it alone. However, as I later learned, I was never truly alone.
Soon after becoming a church refugee, I began spending all my spare time searching for the truth about the way of life that Jesus lived and taught, what I call Jesus’ Christianity. I suspected I’d find it somewhere under the false Christianity that held me captive. Something told me it was there, like Morpheus sending me that cryptic message, “Wake up CJ. Manmade Christianity has you.”
Entering the campus of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, my wife and I followed the herd of other tourists through Library Square when I looked up to see a large sign saying, “Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it,” by Jonathan Swift. Yes, it seems that in our society, falsehoods often prevail far more than truth. What matters most to some people is who said something, rather than the trustworthiness of what they said. For many people, truth is whatever they decide it to be. But remembering that Jonathan Swift quote has fueled my desire to give truth—that is, Jesus’ truth as defined in the Bible—a shoulder to lean on, especially when many people are kicking it in the shins.
As I stepped off on my own journey many years ago, there was a new question loitering in my mind. Jesus had said, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). But, free from what? I suspected there was something more than freedom from wounds and captivity to a manmade Christianity. I suspected there was something else holding me prisoner that I wasn’t aware of … like the matrix.
So, now it’s decision time. Will you stop here and remain captive to a distorted, manmade image of Christianity, a Christianity that may be blinding you to the truth? Or, will you follow me at least a little farther on this journey to uncover the truth? For Matrix fans, this is the blue pill or red pill moment. And like Morpheus said, all I’m offering you is the truth. Nothing more.
For many who read the Bible, they read it through figurative church-made glasses. These glasses have a special filter that consists of the Bible interpretations they’ve heard in church. As they read the Bible, the words they read go through this filter. In some cases, the words are modified by the filter so that what reaches the mind conveniently matches up with what they’ve heard in church.
Yet if they notice a conflict between what they’re reading and what they’ve heard, they may attribute the conflict to their apparent inability to understand the “complex” messages in the Bible, messages only seminary-trained pastors can understand, or so they may have been told.
Nagged by the conflicts I’d noticed while reading the Bible—conflicts between what I had heard in church and what I was reading—I gradually removed those church-made glasses and, for the first time, read the Bible with clear eyes. That’s how I came to find true Christianity, the Christianity that Jesus lived and taught. You can read about what I found in my book, Beneath the Graffiti: A De-churched Christian’s Search for Christianity.
Modern Christianity suffers from 2000 years of human tinkering, manipulation, and customization. For evidence, consider the hundreds of different denominations, each with their own customized rules, doctrines, beliefs, and traditions. But how far have some of those variants drifted from what existed 2000 years ago? And what did exist 2000 years ago?
The years haven’t been kind to Christianity. The way of life that Jesus lived and taught has been scared by the influences of man. Sometimes, what we see on the surface shows little resemblance to what Jesus originated.
That’s what can happen after 2000 years—2000 years of human tinkering, manipulation, and customization. For evidence, consider the hundreds of different denominations, each with their own customized rules, doctrines, beliefs, and traditions. However, as different as they are from one another, they all call what they preach the same thing … Christianity.
But is it really Christianity, or more specifically, the Christianity that Jesus lived and taught? How far have some of those variants drifted from what existed 2000 years ago? And what did exist 2000 years ago?
Is the Christianity you’ve experienced authentic Christianity, or has it been influenced more by man that God? If that question stirs a feeling in your soul, please consider my book, Beneath the Graffiti: A De-churched Christian’s Search for Christianity. The book is a record of what I found when I peered beneath the 2000-year accumulation of manmade clutter.
The years haven’t been kind to Christianity. The way of life that Jesus lived and taught has been scared by the influences of man. Sometimes, what we see on the surface shows little resemblance to what Jesus promoted.
That’s what can happen after 2000 years—2000 years of human influence, of tinkering, manipulation, and customization. For evidence, consider the hundreds of different denominations, each with their own customized rules, doctrines, beliefs, and traditions. However, as different as they are from one another, they all call what they preach the same thing … Christianity.
But is it really Christianity, or more specifically, the Christianity that Jesus lived and taught? How far have some of those variants drifted from what existed 2000 years ago? And what did exist 2000 years ago?
That last question is the one that lingered most in my mind as I finally gave up on church, feeling that the church I’d long been a member of had drifted far off from what Jesus initiated. That question gave me a gentle shove down a path that led me on a journey in search of Christianity, original Christianity, the Christianity that Jesus lived and taught.
Is the Christianity you’ve experienced authentic Christianity, or has it been influenced more by man that God? If that question stirs a feeling in your soul, please consider my book, Beneath the Graffiti: A De-churched Christian’s Search for Christianity. The book is a record of what I found when I peered beneath the 2000-year accumulation of manmade clutter. What I found was Jesus’ Christianity hidden beneath. But be advised, for within the pages of this book you may discover more than the truth of Christianity.
Today Christians celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. May this day also signal the resurrection of His Christianity, the authentic Christianity that doesn’t suffer from 2000 years of human manipulation.
Get “Beneath the Graffiti: A De-churched Christian’s Search for Christianity” for FREE this Easter Sunday (last day of FREE promotion).
In honor of this Easter, get “Beneath the Graffiti: A De-churched Christian’s Search for Christianity” for FREE (ebook), until Easter Sunday, April 20th.
In honor of this Easter, get “Beneath the Graffiti: A De-churched Christian’s Search for Christianity” for FREE(ebook), until Easter Sunday, April 20th.
David wrote, “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” (Psalm 27:4))
Since he said “all the days of my life,” I believe David wasn’t referring only to his eventual living with God in heaven. I believe he also was referring to his here-and-now life on earth.
To “dwell in the house of the Lord” means to share the dwelling in which God lives. But God doesn’t live only in heaven—He also lives within the souls of those who believe and accept Him. So, to “dwell in the house of the Lord” means to BE that house, to be the dwelling in which God lives. YOU can be God’s dwelling, via His Holy Spirit living within you, sharing your body with you. And where God lives, there is love and peace … and no anxiety.
So, as I’ve recommended before, if you’re looking for freedom from anxiety, look within yourself for the presence of the Holy Spirit. The more you look, the more real His presence will become.
Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)
Yes, for many of us these are anxious times—no need for details. But what if you knew and felt the presence of the Holy Spirit within you? We need never be alone in dealing with this life we’re emersed in. We need never be alone in our anxiety.
Try this: Envision the Spirit within you as the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Jesus, whoever is most comfortable for you—they are both the same Spirit. Conjure up an image in your mind. Look, He’s smiling at you, with a soft, gentle smile, a smile filled with love. Hold onto that image and go back to that image as you venture through your day.
Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” (Acts 1:8)
Looking for freedom from anxiety? Look for the living presence of the Holy Spirit within you. And with His power, you can fend off the attacks of anxiety.
Maybe try this: sit and get comfortable, close your eyes, breath gently and slowly, focus on your breath, going in, and out, and empty your mind as best you can.
Now, in your mind’s eye look for the Spirit of God within you. It may be hard at first. Try using your imagination. Imagine God’s Spirit within you, there with your soul, two entities in one body. Jesus spoke of this relationship, He prayed for it, and promised it. Let His promise come true within you.
See the Spirit, try to feel His presence. Talk to Him. Give your worries to Him, all of them.
Now that your mind is all worked up again, try once more to empty it and quiet it down. And listen. Give God His turn to talk. Not with words but with thoughts and feelings, He may speak to you. And maybe you’ll feel His power, AND His peace.
“Ever consider Christianity? To help with the stress?
“What!? Are you kidding!? Christianity’s part of the problem. Look at all the Christians who voted for the guy. And then there’s the whole Christian Nationalism thing.”
“No, not that Christianity—I mean, that’s not really Christianity. I’m talking about the way of life that Jesus promoted … before men got ahold of it and splattered it with their self-centered ideas.”
“A Jesus Christianity? Really? Is there such a thing, and do you think it would help? I mean, help me deal with all the crap that’s going on?”
“It helps me.”
“Hmm. Okay, sure. I’m game. So how do I learn about this Jesus Christianity?”
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“Beneath the Graffiti: A De-churched Christian’s Search for Christianity”
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