Do you consider Christ a project to be promoted, a cause to be served, or a Lord to be obeyed? In our world today, it seems many have become confused about their relationship with Christ. I see preachers on TV proclaiming Jesus in a way that makes it sound like the latest product pitch from Madison Avenue.
At times, we can also get caught up doing things for Him in an effort to prove our loyalty. But at the end of the day, all Jesus asks and requires is our whole-hearted obedience to His words. He simply asks us to follow and obey.
Jesus is not a product to be pitched. He doesn’t need you or me to extol His attributes on an unwitting public. Yes, He commanded us to go and tell everyone about Him (Matthew 28:19-20), but there is a great difference between telling someone about Him and selling Him to someone. We never have to build up Jesus. He is self-sufficient and self-contained. We get into trouble when we attempt to make Him more palatable to our generation or culture. Jesus is who He is and who He always has been. Nothing need be added or taken away. He alone is enough.
In the same way, when Jesus commanded us to serve Him (John 14:15), it was never meant to be about proving our loyalty or earning some higher place in the Kingdom. He told us to serve Him because He knew if we truly loved Him this would not be a burdensome or difficult task. We would do it naturally out of our pure and unwavering love for Him. Remember, He said His burden is easy and His yoke is light (Matthew 11:30). He never intended for His teachings to be too heavy for us. Serving Him is a natural result of loving Him. True service flows from no other place and has no further agenda.
If we love Him, we will obey the commands He gave us (John 14:15). We will walk as He walked and we will love as He did. In all things, we love because He first loved us. Jesus gave up everything for you and me. He proved His love by suffering a gruesome and horrific death. Instead of calling down the power of Heaven, He suffocated while bearing the agony of having been brutally tortured. Such love demands a response. What else can we do but obey?
Who is Jesus to you? Is He merely a product to be promoted, a bandwagon upon which you wish to climb? Perhaps He is an insatiable God to whom you must ever be proving yourself. Or maybe He is truly your Lord, the One to whom you are eternally grateful and could not conceive living without. Your answer has eternal and weighty consequences. Your answer, no matter what it is, demands something from your life. So I will ask once more, who is Jesus to you?