ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIFE MATTERS - MARCH 11, 2013
By Steve Dunn
“Jesus doesn't need us to reduce Him to a poor puny
Jesus just so people can ‘accept’ him. He doesn't want us to accept him, he
wants us to follow him.”
- David Platt
We apologize for Jesus too much. We de-radicalize him and spin him, so that
people might be willing “friend” him on Facebook. We want people to like him. We want people to
accept him.
We downplay that his neighbors in
Nazareth were offended by him and his family embarrassed by him. We placed pictures of him with children
everywhere but grow uncomfortable with him whip in hand in the Temple.
So we wipe the blood stains off of our
crosses. We declaw our apologetics. We want make him into a Republican or a
Democrat depending on our political persuasion.
We quote his words on love and yet ignore his probing questions. We talk
about His work on the Cross because the suffering is done so we can avoid the
pain of eternal separation from God, but downplay what he taught the night
before with a basin and a towel.
We need to take Jesus seriously and to
tell the people the truth. “ Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever
wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and
follow me.” – Luke 9.23
