You're Not Jesus!

"Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" was a remark made during the 1988 United States vice-presidential debate by Democratic candidate Senator Lloyd Bentsen to Republican candidate Senator Dan Quayle in response to Quayle's mentioning the name of John F. Kennedy. When Quayle invoked the name of past president Jack Kennedy the other candidate made sure everyone knew that Quayle was no Jack Kennedy, no matter if he mentioned his name at all.

What is the effect of us mentioning Jesus in a situation? If a person is avoiding the thought of what Jesus would do they will probably think "You are not Jesus!" To which, the person would have to admit, "You're right." When we try to control someone else we may at times like to use scripture or just mention Jesus in a situation to make our point and make that control seem Godly or holy. But is it? Jesus spoke to this controlling attitude in the following way in Matthew 7:3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?4 How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?5 Hypocrite! First, get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

What is our motive when trying to beat someone over the head with a religious attitude to try and change them? Usually, the motive is self-gratification and putting ourselves above someone else. No matter how we try to make our hypocrisy look Godly we fall miserably short and instead of helping that other person we hurt them and push them further away from God. An indicator we are in the last days is that those of the faith will begin to explode from the inside out and Peter warned of this in 1 Peter 4:7 The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers.8 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. When we turn everything to God in prayer and we are earnest in those prayers God will show us how to live and how to react to others. Without doing that we begin to lose focus and we only hurt others instead of loving them. It is better to love someone back to the faith, instead of judging them back. As the statement was made above "You Are Not Jesus!" Do not misrepresent the love of Jesus by treating someone the opposite of how He would treat them. Because remember, "You're Not Jesus!"

That is why we must become more and more intentional in our study of God's Word, because without the precise words of Jesus, we fall into our own book of "Assumptions" and that book is very flawed because it comes from our own reasoning, which is very wrong. The Jewish leaders wrote many additions to the Word of God and look where it got them, and they hated Jesus. Where will you end up writing your own book of Assumptions? Will Jesus still be a part of any of the writings? Probably not. Time to put the "judgment hammer" down and deal with the reality that I am not Jesus and it is time to quit beating others over the head with that hammer!

The Pilgrimage Continues

David Warren