Jesus Hates IT When You Try to Kidnap Him

Don’t ever name your dog Jesus. You’ll never be able to train him.

Jesus isn’t here to perform tricks for you. He’s not your pet. He’s not going on Penn & Teller to fool them with His magicianship. He’s not your hired hand, and He’s not your grandmother baking your favorite cookies or treating you to McDonald’s because you’ve been such good boys and girls.

Aside: I miss the days when McDonald’s was a treat, rather than a way of life. Stupid McRibs.

So many people think the only reason to have the Lord of Life is so you can use Him to lord your own life. That’s not anywhere written in the contract (or covenant, to use the more Biblical term). Certainly Jesus opens the vault of heaven to pour out mercy upon mercy and grace upon grace for everyone who calls on Him as Savior. Savior – not sucker.

Jesus crafts this whole faith relationship with you to grace you with His presence, to remove your toughest stains, and to reboot you with a daily restart that is filled beyond capacity with His righteous plan for your life. Not yours. Never underestimate your ability to mess things up. (Romans 3:9-20)

When you try to steer things your own way, you crash and burn. The Jesus Way navigates you through the curves and hills and icy roads of this life, all the way to His Father’s House on Salvation Avenue. Admit it: you’re a terrible driver.

But a lot of us don’t admit it. Who hasn’t had a couple accidents? Or a ticket or two (the light was yellow, sir.). We excuse our failures as misfortune and our incidents as accidents when we know, deep down in places we don’t talk about at parties, we want a Savior. We need a Savior. (1 John 1:8-9)

You’re not enjoying this, are you? It gets worse.

The most dangerous approach to faith in Jesus is the misconception that somehow I can get what I want from Him, if I find the right formula or figure out His price. Everyone’s got a price, right? Obviously few people actually say that, even in their own minds. But it’s the Garden Temptation all over again, to go for what looks good to me and maybe take over God’s place at the top. I just need Jesus to go along with it.

Where I see this mindset quite abundantly today is in our societal wranglings and political warfare. If we have any acquaintance with Jesus at all, we figure we can win if we train Him to be one of us. We co-opt Jesus to win our arguments.

It’s attempted kidnapping. And Jesus hates it.

Jesus is not a Republican. He’s not a Democrat. He’s not woke, and He’s not based. He’s not an illegal alien or political refugee. He’s not MAGA, and He’s definitely not pro-LGBTQetc. Jesus is not your political pawn, period, full stop.

And in one paragraph, I ticked everyone off. Good.

Jesus would never get elected because of the radical change He demands and inspires, but that’s irrelevant because He’s not up for a vote anyway. He’s not running for anything because He’s already King of Kings and Lord of Lords (which doesn’t help the No Kings crowd). You don’t choose Jesus; He chooses you. (John 15:16)

When He does, He takes the whole you, not just the façade you put up every day for public viewing. His Word of grace and truth cuts you to the heart. He’s the world’s foremost heart surgeon. You need a transplant; He gives you His own.

Jesus transforms you. He takes out your trash, repairs all your damage, and gives you a makeover inside and out. When He moves into your newly renovated soul, He brings out the righteousness in you that He planted the first day in your baptism. He opens the eyes of your heart to see the riches of His glorious grace and His incomparably great power. You experience a deep love that is so high and wide that it defies description. You start looking and sounding and living like Him. It's the beginning of a beautiful friendship. And lordship.

Make no mistake: Jesus cares about the moral issues you and I debate and hate over. His Word is the only source of perfect wisdom on these things, because it’s His. His Word is the one standard upon which all moral questions are measured. He defines sin and the consequences thereof, and He’s not open to negotiation or reinterpretation. He also details the One Way to forgiveness, life and salvation, and it goes completely and exclusively through Him. There are two religions: His, and the wrong one. Don’t try to mess with that.

So you and I are not permitted to end the life of another human being, even and especially unborn ones, nor do we help or encourage others to do so. (Matthew 18:6) We are not free to have sex with whoever turns us on. We do not despise those who are different or have less, and we do not cross over to the other side of the street when someone in front of us lies bloody and beaten. Whatever we do to the least of these, we do to Jesus. Whatever we do for them, we do for Jesus. (Matthew 25:31-46) We do it all in the name of Jesus, which is Jesus doing it all through us. Failure is not an option.

Following Jesus is a full-time life. It may cause you to lose friends, or family members. He predicted that. It’s because He demands full obedience, even as He offers full salvation. Some people don’t like that. They don’t want to change. So they try to change us. Or Him.
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Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. You can live with that.