I Just want Jesus

"For so much of my life I had been defending Christianity because I thought to admit that we had done any wrong was to discredit the religious system as a whole, but it isn't a religious system, it is people following Christ; and the important thing to do, the right thing to do, was to apologize for getting in the way of Jesus."
~Donald Miller

Have you ever thought that Christians can at times be the worst representation of Christ in this world? That of all the witnesses in this world Christ got shafted a bit? I sometimes think that, mostly when I look in the mirror. I wonder about the body of Christ, constantly curious about if we are trully doing his will. I feel that sometimes our churches, our structures and our mindsets are the greatest obstacle that Jesus has to overcome. I am afraid to tell people sometimes that I am a Christian, not because I am afraid to share my faith, but because I am afraid that by telling somebody that, the conversation will be over at that point, because of all the sterotypes that come along with saying things like "Born-again" and I would rather not be connected with that.

I know of people including myself, that wish that they could have all of Jesus without all the other stuff that seems to come with him. I Just want to be able to press into him and leave all of this mess behind. I am not talking so much about leaving tradition, and the church behind, but the attitudes that have become the norm with Christians today. The Judgemental, uncompassionate, unloving attitudes that are hurting people and not helping them at all. How often a person who is a "non-believer" is told that they are going to hell, instead of being loved and appreciated and shown that it doesnt matter who you are, I am going to love you anyway. We could do a great deal to change the way the church appears to the world if we would just re-think our attitudes a bit and be rid of the stereotypical mindsets that we have.

So what is my answer to this predicament that we seem to find ourselves in? You know, I dont know what to tell you. I know what I like to say in situations like that, rather than tell someone that I am a Christian, I like to tell them this.

I tell them that I have found something special in my life that gives me joy, hope, great happiness. "What is it" they may ask. I found someone that loves me, so much that he is willing to put his life on the line for me. I have found somebody that knows me better than I know myself and is there for me when ever I am in need of a friend. Someone who cares genuinly for everybody, even all the people that we would generally look away from, the homeless, the drug addicts, etc. he is their friend too and he is there for them and helps them if they will let them. Most of all, I have found someone to trully listen to me, not someone who is faking it and just saying "uh huh" after every sentence or two to aknowledge they are still there but is really just waiting for the moment of escape, but someone who wants nothing more in the world then to be with me and hear all of my thoughts, my struggles, my pain. Someone that when I express the pain in my heart or the hardships that i am going through, tears run down his cheeks as he sympathizes with what I am going through. And then when I am finished talking, he comes close to me, puts his arm around me and whispers to me that he loves me more than anything in this world, and that he will help me through it all, that I am never alone. I have found a love that is sweeter far above all the world can offer me, his name is Jesus.

Even as I write this i have tears in my eyes. I hope that this is the Jesus that you know. If it is not, I hope that you get to know him. I guarantee that it will change your life. It changed mine.