Salvation Nation

I'm currently reading a book by Professor Stephen Prothero (Boston University) called American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon. In it he charts the various approaches to Jesus throughout our nation's history from the Sacrificial Jesus of the Puritans and Jonathan Edwards to the Sweet Savior of D.L. Moody and Ira Sankey, from the Manly Jesus of Billy Sunday to the Hollywood Jesus (Jesus Christ, Superstar), from the Hippie Jesus of the Woodstock environment to the Successful Jesus (Dale Carnegie)... And on and on it goes.

But the common denominator over all these years has been the need for Jesus, in whatever form, from professed believers to the sub-cultures and even counter-cultures. Why? Quite simply, because we all need a Savior.

The broad road of Christianity is populated with those who have been taught, and thus believe, that his mission was to save us from a destiny in Hell because of our sins; that God means to harm us horribly if we don't "accept Jesus" as our Personal Savior and believe that he died in our place (even though we still must die), and all of our sins (past, present and future) will not be counted against us. Say the words, snap on the WWJD bracelet, and you're good to go.

The thing is, though, that Jesus himself never seems to talk about that. He did, however, talk plenty about how we are to live to be at peace and to please our Heavenly Father. You see, the greatest enemy of me is ME. I can't cop out with the well-worn phrase, "The Devil made me do it," because he DIDN'T. To be sure he TOLD me to do it, but he didn't actually "pull the trigger," so to speak.

We have this thing in us called Pride. The kind of pride that makes you boastful, arrogant, defensive, jealous and sometimes downright mean. I don't know where it came from, but it's the most used, multi-purpose Leatherman in Satan's tool belt. And I'm sure you have, as have I, met someone who will point out to you their lack of pride, thus demonstrating to you once again its power. Many times you don't even see it coming. As someone once said to me, "I might as well pat my own back; nobody else will."

Being a true Christian isn't rocket science. God wants us to have justice and mercy. Always do what's right (justice) and be kind and compassionate (mercy). Jesus taught us how to do it, then showed us how to do it. But he didn't have an ounce of pride. There's the rub. He died because his disciples were dull of hearing while he was with them in the flesh, and he told them so. He died so that the Heavenly Energizer (Holy Spirit) could come and remind them, with even more teaching, of the things they had heard. He told them that too.

We have his words. We have his Spirit. We just need to do the task that's set before us. When we recognize in the journey that we ARE accomplishing justice and mercy, then we're not as far along as we thought, because Pride will always take the credit. But when our lives become so immersed in the presence of the Father and the Son that we DON'T realize that we are, in fact, practicing justice and mercy ... aah then, Perfection is not far off.

And that's where he wants us to be.
STEVE