Skip to main content

One Dimensional Jesus


Being a Christian is more than making a decision to accept Jesus as your Savior. Being a Christian is a decision to be conformed to the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself explained how seeds of faith that are planted sometimes show signs of growth that don't last. In Matthew 13, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower, stating that it is only the seed that is planted on the good soil that bears fruit.
In many Christian circles today, we have developed a one-dimensional Jesus. Jesus is presented to an unbeliever as a good deal. It may sound too good to be true, but all you need to do is make a decision for Christ and you will be saved. We focus on a one-time decision and ignore the long and tedious process of opening your heart, mind and spirit every day in deeper ways so that you move toward actually becoming indistinguishable from Jesus as the result of that decision. Jesus is much more than a ticket to heaven. We actually dumb Jesus down when we don't live out the wonder of what it means to be a Christian. Literally being a Christian means being a little Christ. Being a Christian is making a decision for Christ every day several times a day. It is being converted in the deepest recesses of our souls by the absolute love of Christ and the desire to become exactly like Him. It is a rare Christian who sets his sights so high as to consider becoming like Christ, yet that is the very essence of what it means to be a Christian.
During a recent seminar Dr. James Packer stated, You have to help people into real repentance as much as you help them into real faith. He commented that when it looks as if people have fallen from faith it’s probably that they weren't truly converted at a deep level of reality. He believes some people are forced to make a decision before they are clearheaded, and a deep enough decision for Christ has not been made.
There is nothing in the Gospels or in the Epistles that would make one believe that Jesus could be dumbed down into a one-dimensional Jesus who merely grants access to heaven in exchange for a decision for Christ. I believe this kind of teaching is the worst kind of humanism. It becomes all about the presenter selling to another a kind of eternal life insurance gimmick and less about the miraculous work of God that takes place on so many levels when a soul is snatched from hell and reset on course to have eternal life with God through Jesus Christ.
Paul fought hard against false Christianity in writing to the Galatians. He described it this way in Galatians 4:19: My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. Being a Christian is about Christ being formed in us. Encouraging others to become a Christian felt like labor of childbirth according to Paul. This is a far cry from the kind of one-dimensional, gimmicky Christianity that is offered. Jean-Pierre de Caussade said Jesus confused his disciples by his resurrection appearances. Sometimes he seemed disguised, and they thought he was someone else. Then he would reveal himself clearly and they would know exactly who he was. This same Jesus, still living and active, continues to catch us by surprise if we do not have the eyes of faith. Make sure you are not being deceived by accepting a humanized, one-dimensional Jesus and that you have the eyes of faith required to know that He is more magnificent that you could ever imagine—and what is most incredible of all is that He can actually be formed in you.
Copyright © 2012. Deborah R. Newman www.teatimeforyoursoul.com All Rights Reserved.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Pilgrimage that Started with Tears

                Who would think I would shed tears deciding to set out on a wonderful journey that I have longed to take for many years?   Before I was ready to fully accept God’s invitation for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, I had to journey to a place of agreement between what my soul wanted and what the Lord wanted for me.   For years I have been declining opportunities to travel to Israel—not because I didn’t want to go but because I wanted to go with my husband by my side.   I know that God could have arranged that for me, but instead He asked me to accept that He wanted me to be willing to go and leave everything behind.   When I was asked to make a decision about going on a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, God gave me this verse in answer to my prayer -- Debi, observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are cr...

The Effects of the Holy Spirit

The Effects of the Holy Spirit               Can you imagine that the very Spirit of God is given to humans who believe in God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection?  Just thinking about the Holy Spirit makes me realize that I can do better.  I am not left to my own resources when it comes to praying, having faith, obeying God, doing what He asks me to do.                 No one understands the depth of sin’s effect on a soul better than God.  Every action He takes has been to reduce the effect of evil that was unleashed into our world when sin was merged into His perfect universe.  We never saw it coming. Even Adam and Eve did not see what hit them.  God has counteracted with the effect of faith after sin by enabling sinners to be affected by His ho...

One Year

            One week, one month, and now one year has passed since my world was turned up-side-down.   At first time felt like an eternity, each day the reality that my beloved husband was no longer with me here on earth drug on and felt like it would never resolve.   Now that a significant amount of time has passed, it doesn’t seem possible that we have lived through one whole year without him.   How did we get here?   Where have we been?   How did the earth revolve completely around the sun?   We are surviving.   We are grateful.   We have had a lot of help from heaven and from earth.             I have discovered more intimately how death is a major spiritual formation in our lives.   Whether we are deeply spiritual or not, facing death forces us to consider spiritual realities.   Our souIs are opened to a deeper u...