Have you ever gotten a new perspective on someone after really getting to know them? You thought you knew them, but once you got closer you suddenly realized your former perspective was hearsay. Your ideas about the person were secondhand and not at all what you recently discovered. This happens to me sometimes with positive results and sometimes with not so positive results. There are some people I really admire and I don’t want to get to know them well lest I change my mind.
I think most people think they know who Jesus is, but little of their knowledge is from personal contact. They listen to teachers or their pastor and thus think they know all about Jesus. I would like to propose that no one really knows Jesus until they have a one on one experience. I know when I was young I used to think Jesus was always a really nice guy that everyone loved. Then I read Matthew 23 and gasped when I saw him boldly calling the religious leaders snakes, frauds and murderers. He wasn’t the gentle Jesus meek and mild I thought I knew. While He was indeed compassionate with the weak and abused He really got angry with the “righteous”. See Mark 2.
The more I experienced Jesus for myself the more my admiration grew. The more I wished I had that kind of courage. He was a man’s man who wasn’t afraid to do the right thing. If all you know about Jesus is what your teachers or what I have told you, please remedy that. He’s waiting for a one on one relationship with you. You’ll like what you discover.
Written by Roger Bothwell on August 1, 2008.
Photograph by Samim Hasan.
Spring of Life Ministry, St. Helena, CA 94574