I never thought I’d be writing a blog telling people to stay away from Jesus, yet here we are…
Those words, “stay away from Jesus” are repeated over and over in a song by Matt Papa and I must say he makes a compelling argument.
So, let’s look at some of those reasons he mentions:
1. Stay away from Jesus if you want a comfy life
Jesus Himself tells us that in this world we will have trials and troubles and that we will face persecution (John 16:33, 1 Peter 4:12, 1 Corinthians 10:13)
If anything, Jesus promises as believers and followers of Christ we will face even more trials and persecution by the world simply for being Christians and proclaiming the name of Jesus. (Matthew 10:22, John 15:18-21)
Not only will we have troubles in this world but Jesus also tells us in Luke 9:23, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
He makes it clear to take up your cross and DIE. Die to yourself, die to your flesh and sinful nature, die to your selfish desires, die to your pride. The old Kayla had to die when I met Jesus and it’s not always easy. Galatians 5 tells us that the flesh and Spirit are contrary to each other; they war against each other and are completely opposed to each other. Sounds painful, right?? Let’s make one thing clear… Jesus isn’t SAFE. He never calls us to a life of safety and comfort.
So, if you want a comfy life full of fulfilling your own desires, dreams, and living how you want to live, then stay away from Jesus because He will call you to do things you never thought you would do. I NEVER thought I would leave my family and friends for almost a year to go serve people I don’t know in countries all over the world. And honestly, I’d be lying if I said that I’m not afraid, or frustrated sometimes that this is what Jesus is calling me to do. Because the old Kayla, the sinful flesh I live in, wants to be in control. But I have died to that part of me; Jesus now lives in me so I will follow Him no matter where He leads, no matter what it costs me, and no matter what the world says.
2. Stay away from Jesus if your works are good enough
Now this is a controversial topic that’s been debated by many people more knowledgeable than me for many decades. But the Bible is clear: Jesus came into the world to save us, not to condemn us (John 3:17). Which begs the question: what is He saving us from? The simple answer is ourselves. Our sin. Our disobedience and unbelief. He saves us from the wrath of God.
So, that’s the choice we all must make. EVERY single person. We must decide if we can stand before a perfect, holy God and find favor in His eyes based off our own self-righteousness… or we can acknowledge our sinfulness and shortcomings and the fact that we need someone to stand in our place who is sinless and can reconcile us to God.
If you have fulfilled the Law of God (The 10 Commandments) and kept it perfectly, then the truth is you don’t need Jesus… but we have all fallen short of perfection and the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and need a Savior.
Jesus Himself says that narrow is the gate and hard is the way that leads to life and there are few who find it (Matt. 7:13-14); the path to destruction is wide and many walk it because it doesn’t require us to give up our selfishness and pride and acknowledge our separation from God.
You see Jesus calls us to act the exact opposite of how society tells us: He says HATE the ones you love and LOVE the ones you hate. He loves us, who are the very enemies of God in our sin. I want my love for my family to look like hate compared to how much I love Jesus. So, that is why I am CHOOSING to leave them for 11 months; because I want the people in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Ghana, Cote de Ivoire, India, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines to come to know Jesus as their Savior. I want Jesus to be lifted high, glorified, and made known more than I want anything else that this world has to offer.
3. Stay away from Jesus if you’re happy in your stuff and 10%’s enough
What the world calls radical Christianity, Jesus says is exactly how we should act as Christians. He expects us to give all of ourselves to Him. Every hope, dream, desire, fear, doubt, insecurity, and sin. He wants us to submit it His will.
If there’s anything that Jesus couldn’t stand, it was a lukewarm believer. (Matt. 23:25-28) Be either hot or cold, serve God or gold, stand with Him or against Him, but at least make a choice. Jesus preached against the Pharisees because they were people who focused on external actions, appearing perfect and holy, but were full of sin and pride internally.
We have too many people already who profess themselves as Christians but live like the world. Too many people who want what God or “religion” can give them but turn away when it costs them something. But guess what? It’s no secret that Jesus demands everything from us. Matthew 22:37-38 says, “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.” If Jesus isn’t first in your life, then He’s not Lord over your life.
And it’s not that we are ever perfect in any sense of the word but that we daily seek to live for Jesus and do everything for His glory. (1 Corinthians 10:31)
Therefore, I can’t give just 10% of my heart, of my life, of my time, of control of my life. I have to give it all to Jesus. But everything we could give to Him, He is already owner of. Everything in the world is already His. So, I must lay all that I am at His feet as a living sacrifice to Him. Which, again, is why I applied for the World Race in the first place. I knew Jesus was calling me into deeper dependence on Him. He was beckoning me to trust that His plans for me are better than my own. And of course, I was apprehensive at first, and sometimes I still wonder why my calling is so different from others around me. But that just goes to show I need to trust Him.
4. Stay away from Jesus if you think you are the Way and you must stay in control
Control is one of the many things Jesus won’t compromise on. However, Jesus is a gentleman and will never force you to surrender to Him. He gives you free will. He wants you to choose to love Him, because it’s not true love if it’s forced. He wants you to choose to come to Him, to give Him control of your life, to give Him control of your future, to put your dreams in His hands, trusting that He will never leave you on your own.
But if you think you know what’s best for you and that you can make decisions on your own then Jesus will let you do just that. He doesn’t need me or you to validate the fact the He is Lord. He is in control whether we choose to believe it or not. (Eph. 1:22, Phil. 2:9-11)
Before I knew Jesus as Lord, I too was trying to make my own way to God. I questioned everything I knew about God, Jesus, the Bible, etc. and was desperately grasping for Truth. I thought that “being a good person” was enough, that “doing my best” would be acceptable in the eyes of God, and that if only I wasn’t as bad as the people I compared myself with, then surely God would let me into Heaven. But, man was I being foolish and completely blinded by Satan.
Cause you see, my righteousness was based off ME being in control. It was contingent on ME being the way to God by being “good enough”. It was ME being prideful, judgmental, and comparing myself with people who I am no better than. Jesus literally rocked my world and pulled the pedestal out from under my feet when I finally saw that even on my BEST days, I was still so, so, so far from perfect. I was so caught up in sin that I couldn’t see the truth of my need for Jesus.
And I am going on the World Race exactly for this reason. Because I want other men, women, and children to see their need for Jesus. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He is the ONLY way to Heaven because He is the only one who is good. The only one who is holy. The only one who is righteous. The only one who is faithful. The only one through which we can be reconciled to God because it was only His death on the cross that God found acceptable as an appeasement for the sin of the world!
Let that sink in for a moment! Jesus voluntarily DIED on the cross so that EVERYONE could know God. You can know your Creator, your Rescuer, and your Defender. God longs for you to love Him, because by loving Him, you can love others.
And that is what I want to be known for. Not for being a good daughter, a good girlfriend, a good student, or even for being successful, smart, attractive, or someone who loves to serve. I want to be known for loving Jesus and making His name known. I want others to know that I love them because Jesus loves them. He counts us all as worthy of salvation. 1 Timothy 2:4 says that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth.” I will gladly give my life so that Jesus is magnified and people who once were far off are brought near to Jesus, exactly like I was at only 16 years old (Eph. 2:13).
We have talked about reasons to stay away from Jesus, so logically, we need to talk about reasons to come to Jesus…
1. Come to Jesus if you want to know a love like you have never know before. A love that accepts you just as you are because Jesus already knows that you can’t make it on your own. Because His love is patient and kind; it does not envy or boast; it does not behave rudely or seek its own; His love rejoices in the Truth and casts out fear; the love of Jesus endures all things and never fails. His love rescues us from our sin and remains faithful even when we aren’t. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 2 Timothy 2:13)
2. Come to Jesus if you are hurting and broken because it is only His peace that passes all understanding and only His joy that allows us to rejoice during times of sorrow and trouble. Jesus will rejoice with you when you rejoice, weep with you when you weep; He perfectly understands the human mind and our feelings. He has been faced with every temptation we have, yet He was sinless, and He wants to bear our burdens for us. (Phil. 4:7, Heb. 4:15, Matt. 11:28-30)
3. Come to Jesus if the things of this world have grown tiring and leave you disappointed. Trust me that this is the same place I reached right before I met Jesus. Even though sin can bring pleasure and fulfillment, it is always TEMPORARY. At the end of every day, I was still empty and searching for something more. I felt like Solomon when he cried out “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” (Eccl. 1:2) Nothing is my life held true joy and I felt like I had no purpose. I was so desperate for rest, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. I was sick of feeling stuck in my sin with no escape in sight.
I want everyone to experience the freedom that is only found in Jesus. I want chains of bondage to sin to break and become chains where we are bound for GLORY. I want people to see that everything in this world perishes and fades away but Jesus and His Word remain forever (1 Peter 1:24-25). This world takes and takes from us but Jesus has given His all. I want my experience on the World Race to reflect the fact that this is not my home; I am simply proclaiming the name of Jesus wherever my feet go until the day I go to my true home which is wherever the Presence of God dwells.
4. Come to Jesus if you have breath in your lungs. Now I know this one seems a little exaggerated, but trust me, it’s not. If you have breath in your lungs, you need Jesus. And I’m not saying this from a “holier-than-thou” or a “self-righteous” place but because just like you, I need Jesus more and more every single day. I honestly don’t know how I made it through a single day in my first 16 years of life without Him. I’ve never had a friend like Jesus. Someone who walks with me constantly, never leaves me or forsakes me, fights for me against the powers of sin and Satan that I am no match for. Because yes, the hold of sin is strong, but Jesus is stronger.
There is no where you can run, that Jesus can’t find you. No where you can fall, that Jesus won’t catch you. No place you can go that the love of Jesus won’t reach out to you.
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” Psalm 139:7-12
However, on December 30, 2010, Jesus came to me. He came to me in my sin and in my brokenness. He came to me when I was too proud and lost to come to Him. He opened my eyes to the Truth of His grace and salvation. He didn’t leave me in my doubt and fear, but called out to the depths of my heart that had been longing for Him. He was the treasure I never knew I needed but He is also the treasure I could never afford. I pray the Jesus would rid me of myself and be my all in all because I have no good apart from Him.
And He has come to you too.He is drawing you to Himself. He has paid the price for your redemption and reconciliation. Will you grab hold of His hand outstretched towards you?
