Jesus Is Missing
Jesus Is Missing:
Losing the Messiah in the midst of Religious Tradition
“His parents didn’t miss HIM at first.”(Lk.2:43)
If Jesus’ went “missing” with HIS own parents in the midst of all the hubbub of their religious tradition and celebration,
is it possible we might MISS JESUS in the midst of religious tradition too?
Ticked at table 12 because they forgot the deviled eggs, we miss the weeping widow alone in the corner.
Too busy judging the hand raisers and loud music, we miss the altar call calling our name.
Assuming that hymns, pulpits, and organs are out dated and irrelevant, we miss the message of Christ this is readily available when we seek HIM over personal preferences.
Chastising volunteers for chatting too much, we miss the deep conversations meant for us.
Steeples and stained-glass were made to point to glory and tell God’s story but we miss the Gospel message in building campaigns, historic preservation and separating denominations.
Segregated Sundays and stone-throwing at sinful Saturdays, we miss the unity and mercy meant FOR ALL, AT ALL TIMES!
Offended, once again by the church, we miss grace-laced opportunities in these “hospital” communities. (We are all sick and broken in need of a Healer!)
When being “right” is most important, we miss the righteousness of Christ.
Love, without truth, we miss the guard rails meant to keep us from driving off the cliff.
Truth, without love, we miss mercy and grace in the straight jacket of judgement.
Where there is watered down truth and conditional love, we miss the REAL GOSPEL, having stumbled over or settled for, the “CLOSE” gospel, and we all know-“close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades!”
Memory verses, church attendance and missions, without the Holy Spirit, we miss divine revelation, personal relationship and the miraculous!
When “the way it’s always been” becomes “the ONLY way it should always be,” we miss the masterful innovation and personally relevant, Immutable Messiah .
When we skim the Bible, skipping stories we think we know, we miss the golden nuggets that are meant to be mined for a lifetime.
When we choose to view life through the “knothole” of our pain, we miss the glimpses of glory God wants to give us on a healing journey.
Focused on the earthly life of “ME,” success, comfort and safety, we miss the eternal life of “MEANING,” significance over success, compassion over comfort and Kingdom risk over safety.
The Pharisees watched Jesus so closely, (Luke 6:7 NLT) looking for Him to break the rules of tradition,
that
they missed the miraculous,
they missed the fulfillment of the prophesies they had spent their whole lives teaching about,
they missed the MESSIAH!
BUT
WE DON’T HAVE TO!
“When you come looking for me, you’ll find me.
“Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree.
Jeremiah 29:13 MSG
**I wrote a little different version of this post in the link below on a local community site! I hope you will like it too:)
About Katie Wilson
Where my faith and creativity collide! A freedom freelancer, prayerful painter and clarion for Christ. #amwriting #Compel Forgiven and Free Living a life that says: COME AND SEE!
Katie,
I like the different scenarios in which we can miss Jesus because that really makes me think about how I might be missing Him also. Great job!
I couldn’t agree more with the truths you present here! Awesome post, sister!
This is a fantastic post on missing Jesus. It’s so easy to get so focused on ourselves that we can’t see the direction that He is pulling our hearts and footsteps of action towards. Thank you so much for this timeless reminder!