Doesn’t matter what you do or who you are: Jesus. Loves. You.

And there’s the summery of the book. See ya!!

Just kidding… well in a way I am. I wanted to pull a few quotes and thoughts from the book I liked (and make a few comments if needed), but essentially that is it – Jesus Loves You (hence the title ).

The book is broken up into 10 chapters, or the stories of 10 different types of people the authors are with. They tell stories of their relationships with each type of person and why Jesus loves them (they do say over and over that Jesus loves everyone, it just so happens that the book takes a look at these 10 types specifically). Here’s the stories/chapters…

• Jesus Loves the:

1. …Bitter and Betrayed
2. … the Disconnected
3. … Broken
4. … Forgotten
5. … Skeptic
6. … Glutton
7. … Crook
8. … Outcast
9. … Porn Star
10. … Religious

After finishing the book one of my first thoughts was… “in the circles I grew up in and still to this day somewhat hang out in – many of them would think that there is just too much emphasis on love and not enough ‘they need the truth’ stuff if they read this book. Craig and Jason advocate way too much for Jesus loving people where they are and not enough trying to fix and change people. People I hang with now or used to hang with would think this is way too soft and Biblically inaccurate.” Even as I sit here now… the voices of past and present are there, and I don’t know what to do with it. The “who cares how they feel or what they think… wrong is wrong… I’d rather err on the side of truth…  Jesus wasn’t soft on sin… Truth is still truth… etc… keeps running around my mind. Love and truth should never be separated. But for some reason this debate seems to be all over the board with all my friends.

I loved the book, I love the concept, I agree with the guys… but then, well you know I think love fosters change, and I think truth spoken in love is truth that is powerful (not that everyone will like it, but they can no longer question with such fervor or venom our motives for power or judgment – when spoken in humility and love). It’s easy to blast away at people from a blog, pulpit, radio show, TV, etc… when you have no relationship with them. It’s different when you know someone and still can speak truth and show love to them, it just changes things. I’ve blasted away, we all know I have on my blogs over the years… but to have to face someone with the words I write or with what I say, it’s different.

Pain is no respecter of persons… Jesus weeps with the broken, even when he knows things we don’t. He sees things from a different perspective, but he understands the perspective of a broken person, he knows how that feels, he weeps right along with them.

It’s true, pain comes for everyone. But the question is (even for me sometimes), does Jesus really know what I’m going through? Does He/Would He really sit and weep with me in my pain? Or is that just niceties, or fun spiritual fluff to make us feel better? Sure, in the Bible He sat with the broken and cried for the death and brokenness of people, but that was then when He was here. If He’s so powerful, why doesn’t He just fix it? I think He did fix things when He gave His life to reconcile us back to God, but it doesn’t necessarily translate into making sure we have no pain right now – obviously. Everything was perfect at one point, and we still wanted more (don’t be too sure if you were Adam or Eve you wouldn’t have wanted more – I think you’re kidding yourself.) So love doesn’t mean fixing everything so we have no more pain or struggle down here, but love does mean walking through it together. What fosters love more – someone who always fixes everything/cleans up all our messes for us (even though I know we want this sometimes/all the time maybe), or someone who walks with us, cries with us, tells us hard things for our benefit, holds onto us, is there for us, etc…?

The image of the real Jesus either draws or repels. There is hardly any middle ground. Some embrace everything he did. Others think he was an elevated folk hero. Jesus is polarizing…

As the three men hung there suffering to death, on the one side was a crook who blew Jesus off: ‘If you are the Son of God, come down from that cross and save us.’ On that side, a skeptic, imprisoned with nails and demanding proof. On the other side, a simple request from a man who was guilty of a crime, broken, and about to die: ‘Remember me when you get to Heaven.’ Jesus looked beyond all this second man’s baggage and broken past and said, ‘Today you will be with me in paradise’ (see Luke 29:39-43)

I thought this was a good point, either you believe Jesus is who He says He is – or you don’t. That is pretty polarizing I guess. He claims He’s God… and obviously I’ve bought in, hence my writings huh!?

We see in the story of the three crosses that some will believe in His claims to be God and some won’t. One made a choice to follow Jesus, and one chose to not to. Some will buy into all this, and some will think it’s crap. I always wonder why we Christians get so bent out of shape when other people who don’t want to follow God or claim Christianity – live differently than we do, or don’t adhere to our rules or ways to live. I wouldn’t expect anything else… maybe it’s the whole belief in a “christian nation” thing, or that the moral majority are not still in power. Why would they live by the the words of the Bible… As we see, even on the cross – one asked Jesus to remember Him, one scoffed at His claims to be God. What did I miss (I’m sure there is something that my smarter friends can tell me, right)!?

continue to "part 2"

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