for a very long time now
via @joshsorenson IG
I've been thinking about how many rules
we've quietly added to following Jesus.
A whole checklist of what a "real" Christian is supposed to look like. And I don't think most of it actually came from Him.
It's a lot like what the Pharisees did.
They kept stacking rules on top of the rules
until nobody could measure up.
So let's take some off.
(Save the one you needed to hear.)
You can follow Jesus and still be a total mess.
He never asked you to clean yourself up first.
That was never the deal.
You can follow Jesus and have a past you'd never post.
The first person He ever told He was the Messiah was a Samaritan woman who'd had five husbands and was living with a man who wasn't hers. (John 4)
He knew every bit of it, and picked her anyway.
You can follow Jesus and come home after walking away.
In His own story, the father sees the son who left while he's still a long way off, and runs to him. (Luke 15)
There's no walking so far that the way back closes.
You can follow Jesus and still be figuring it out.
The disciples walked with Him for three years and still missed the point constantly. He kept them close the whole time.
Faith was never a finish line. It's a direction.
(You are always going to be in the process of:
"still figuring it out", so just get comfortable being there.
"If infinite wisdom could put itself inside my three lbs brain?
Then it wouldn't be worthy of worship."
~
Kent Hovind)
You can follow Jesus and have real doubts.
A desperate father once told Him, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief." (Mark 9:24) Jesus helped him right then.
He was never once scared of your questions.
You can follow Jesus and go to therapy and take the medication.
Luke, who wrote more of the New Testament than anyone, was a doctor. (Colossians 4:14) Faith and medicine were never enemies.
Getting help isn't weak faith. It's wisdom, and caring for your mind is good stewardship.
You can follow Jesus and grieve so hard you can barely breathe.
The shortest verse in the Bible is "Jesus wept." (John 11:35) God in the flesh cried at a friend's grave.
He's not asking you to be okay. He sits in it with you.
You can follow Jesus and have tattoos.
The verse people quote sits in the same chapter that also bans trimming your beard and wearing two kinds of fabric.
Ink was never on the list of things that keep you out.
You can follow Jesus and love the people the church pushed out.
"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick."
(Mark 2:17)
He said it at a table
full of the exact people everyone else wrote off.
He built His whole ministry out there.
You're in good company.
You can follow Jesus and vote differently than your parents.
"My kingdom is not of this world." (John 18:36) It was never tied to a party or a nation.
You don't have to follow Him the way they did.
Voting differently doesn't change the Jesus you're following.
You can follow Jesus and still have really hard days.
"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
He promised peace, not an easy road. A hard season isn't a sign you're doing it wrong.
You can follow Jesus and have failed Him as badly as anyone.
Peter swore he never knew Him. Three times.
Jesus came back for him and handed him the whole church anyway. (John 21)
Your worst moment isn't the end of your story with Him.
You can follow Jesus with nothing left to offer Him.
A criminal dying next to Him just asked to be remembered. Jesus told him, "today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43)
No time to clean up, no good works to show. Just grace.
You can follow Jesus and come exactly as you are.
There's no cleaning yourself up first. Come as you are was always the actual invitation, not a slogan.
Almost none of what we fight about
is what actually keeps someone from Jesus.
Most of it we added ourselves, the same way the Pharisees did. He's been saying come as you are the whole time.
If you've been on the outside of somebody's list, you were never on the outside of His.
So come as you are.
Bring the mess, the doubts, all of it..."
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