Have you ever noticed that the name of Jesus makes people uncomfortable? People, even Christians, find it much easier to talk about God than they do about Christ Jesus. I am not any different. There are times when the name of the Lord (see?!) makes me feel awkward. I must admit that this causes me a great deal of shame. I think that is the key to the problem. I am ashamed.
It is not that I am ashamed of Christ (that would be unbelievable). I am ashamed of my sin. I am ashamed of my hypocrisy. I am ashamed of being ashamed.
There are several ways that my finite mind pictures Jesus and what he thinks of this. First, there is the gentle, understanding healer that reaches into my heart and lets me feel his love. I love that feeling. It hurts sometimes, but the freedom it gives is beyond description. Another image is of him slapping me aside the head and saying "Snap out of it! Don't you remember I died for you! I died for the price of your sin and have set you free. Why won't you let go of your guilt? Why do I have to wrestle it from you?" Rich Mullins said it wonderfully in this song "Hold Me, Jesus",
"I'd rather fight you for things I don't really want, then to take what you give that I need."
I think I am also afraid of the power that the name of Jesus holds. In Luke 10:17 the disciples return to Jesus and proclaim that "even the demons submit to us in your name." We have that kind of power in the name of the Lord. It is kind of scary. I don't particularly want to face demons. I don't want to fight this spiritual war in the trenches. That is the kind of attention that you get when you proclaim the name of Christ Jesus (there, I said it again).
Heaven help me, because I can't help myself. It is scary and sometimes it makes me and others uncomfortable, but I just have to let you know.
Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Savior. He wants to be yours too. So much so that he took on the weight of all our sins and died on the cross for our salvation. It sounds crazy, but he is that crazy about you and me.
1 comment:
I think it's because people tend to hear His name in a Reverend Lovejoy voice: "Jeeeaazuss." The name has become either a swear word (folk are very comfy with that one) or an indication that "you're one of those crazy people who take this stuff seriously." "God" is a very nebulous concept (higher power, positive force, blah blah). "Jesus" gets you down to specifics.
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