They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” – Mary Magdalene, John 20:13
I feel like Mary Magdalene! 2000 years later and this is my same cry – “They have taken My Jesus and I don’t know where they put Him!”
You see – works, religion, performance, legalism, self-righteousness, The Bible Belt, self-help messages, Western Church Culture, the growing and ever popular “leadership gospel” (not to be confused with the true gospel of Jesus Christ) have taken away my Jesus…the real and true Jesus, and removed Him from churches and from teaching and replaced Him with an altered representation. They reveal and teach a false Jesus, a false gospel. And just like Mary Magdalene, it makes me weep that they have taken my Lord away and I don’t know where they put him. She thought that they had taken His body and buried Him somewhere else. That’s exactly what religion does – it buries the truth of Jesus. But in reality He has risen from the dead and I pray that the truth of Jesus will be resurrected in your life as it has in mine.
I want to reveal the true, real, loving, accepting, forgiving, grace and truth filled Jesus. My Lord, My Jesus – defeated the grave and completed a perfect work on the cross. My Jesus is the real Jesus.
Maybe you’ve heard of Him once, but people have distorted Him and disfigured Him and attached characteristics to Him that do not belong. Characteristics that He is opposed to – controlling, demanding, judgmental, rejecting, performance driven, legalistic, exclusive, seeking perfection, doling out punishment, hateful, apathetic, opposed to individualism…sadly the list goes on and on.
Maybe if you could see Him, the real Him, you would want to know more about Him. You would find out He is none of these things.
Has anyone ever talked about Jesus, but they themselves are judgmental and that made it look like He is judgmental and because of the judgement, you don’t want to know Him?
Or maybe they made Him look controlling, demanding or a host of other manipulative characteristics that made you choose to reject Him? And understandably so. But John 3:17 says, “For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
In Luke 4:18 Jesus Himself says –
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set Free.”
This is my Jesus. He is not controlling, demanding, or judgmental. He is liberating. He is the one who saves us and sets us free.
In Galatians 5:1, the apostle Paul confirms that “It is for Freedom that Christ has set us Free.”
I am so sorry for every wrong portrayal of Jesus out there.
I am so sorry for every wrong portrayal of Jesus out there.
(Check out this – LINK – for false versions of Jesus you might have been led to believe)
I’m sorry for those who have said – you have to clean up your act before you come to Jesus. Or others who say, you don’t have to clean up your act before you come to Jesus, but you better clean it up after you meet Him.
Both are so wrong. He loves you just the way you are – in fact the Bible tells us that He loved all of us (no one is exempt) while all of us were sinners. While we were enemies of God, He loved us. He loved us before we came to Him, so He certainly still loves us when we sin after we come to Him.
Some say, of course He loves us when we sin, but He’s disappointed with us. Friends, that is a wrong view of God. Before God’s wrath for sin was satisfied in Jesus on the cross, you certainly see this type of response from God in the Old Testament and that can be confusing. The Old Covenant Law is a picture of how ancient Israel would have to interact with God and try to please Him because there is an absence of Jesus. There is the absence of Grace – who is Jesus (even though we do see types and shadows of Grace, of Jesus in blood sacrifices in the Old Covenant). But there is no where in the New Covenant that we see this kind of response from God. The cross paid it all. It paid the wage of sin which is death and death only. The wage of sin is not God’s disappointment or anger by the way, so that’s not what He is doling out to you. If you do have to pay for your own sin, the only payment is death. Spiritual and eternal death. And that is what all who don’t accept Jesus’ payment in their place must pay. Our Father desires so desperately for none to suffer and all to accept this free gift.
The Cross satisfied it all.
The Cross satisfied all of God’s wrath against sin. He didn’t save any wrath for you or for me. When Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?!” Jesus was receiving the wrath that you and I deserved but will never experience if we are in Christ. Jesus was forsaken by God so that we will never be. This is My Jesus. Thank you Jesus.
Many feel that God is still disappointed when we sin because they filter God through their own behavior as parents. Many say – I love my children unconditionally, but I still get disappointed when they disobey me. This behavior and response for an earthly parent is completely normal. I am the same way in my parenting. I get disappointed with my children when I’ve told them to unload the dishwasher and they don’t. I even get mad at them sometimes when they don’t do what they know I want them to do because it’s best for them. All the while, I love them with all that is in me. But friends, we are human and God is not. Please don’t filter God’s supernatural, pure, and perfect Love for you through your understanding of human love. That is the wrong definition. We shouldn’t filter His love through our limited understanding of love; we should filter our limited understanding of love through Him. Through His perfect and Gracious Love. None of us gave a son to die to pay for the sins of others. None of us even begin to have the capacity to love the way that our Daddy in Heaven loves us.
One reason we as parents get mad or disappointed is because we expected our children to obey and they didn’t. It’s a surprise. It’s a let down. But God is omniscient. He already knew it was going to happen today, so He sent His Son to pay for it 2000 years ago. In fact, He planned it all out before the foundation of the earth. He’s not surprised. His response is not (like many of us to our children) – I can’t believe you would do that. No. His response is – I knew you would struggle with that, so I sent My Son to pay for that in advance. Now run to My loving arms that have already forgiven you and find strength and full acceptance in Me. He knows that our ability to approach His throne of Grace in confidence is key to overcoming our earthly struggles. He doesn’t want our motivation to be to preform for Him. He wants us to understand who we are in Him – our identity in Him (forgiven, holy, righteous) and to let that identity empower us to live free from the power of sin over us. This, friends, is my loving Father. This is My Jesus.
Another reason we get disappointed or mad as earthly parents is because as humans we like control. Control is actually linked to the first sin in the garden. Adam and Eve wanted to control their own behavior by knowing right from wrong like God did. God didn’t want Adam and Eve to know the difference between good and evil. (Genesis 3:22) (Notice that the Tree wasn’t called the Tree of the Knowledge of Evil. It was the Tree of the Knowledge of GOOD and Evil…knowing the difference between the two). He just wanted them to embrace Him, depend on Him, and commune with Him forever.
God doesn’t have a desire to control man’s behavior.
God lovingly and selflessly gave man a free will. (Deuteronomy 30:19-20) Man was created by God with a specific intent to not be controlled – To not be controllable. Have you ever studied the psychological damages that happen to a person when someone has controlled them? – The human psyche malfunctions. It shuts down. The person is then treated for trauma or abuse. This is because man was not created to be controlled. God’s beautiful design of man had this specific purpose. The intent for man to not be controlled is at the very center of why man was created by God in the first place. God’s desire was for humans to not be able to be controlled by Him or others, because He desperately wants us to choose Him out of our own free will. He wants us to choose to Love Him once we experience His great Love.
“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” – Ephesians 1:4
Once we choose Christ, the Holy Spirit produces His fruits in us and this is honoring and beautiful to God. But when we mess up He is not mad or disappointed. It is part of the package of giving man a free will. It has all already been taken care of on the cross. It was a finished and completed work. On the Cross, Jesus said, “It is finished.” When Jesus said that, He was saying that He paid it all. Not just salvation, but constant righteousness and right standing with God. Just as God covered Adam and Eve in the garden with animal skins (which foreshadowed Jesus), He has covered us with the actual blood of Jesus. That blood has made us holy, righteous, and without blemish in the sight of God not based on our behavior, but because of the value of the price that was paid. It was a high price and it covered every sin you have and will ever commit and put you in forever right standing with God. This is what the blood of Jesus did for us. Friends, this is My Jesus.
Sometimes religion buries My Jesus partially. It covers up or alters parts of Him ever so slightly that it’s difficult to see that it is being done. Like the canned churchy saying that says – Come to Christ as you are, but you’ve got to change once you know Him, because “He loves you too much to leave you that way!” That is the Christianese way of saying – God doesn’t really love you the way that you are. It tells people that His Love is conditional on how you act. Basically this language communicates that God’s acceptance of you is based on your behavior. Friends, this is simply not true. The beauty and mystery of the Gospel is that God’s acceptance, pleased-ness, and favor is not based on us at all. We are simply benefactors of His glorious riches (forgiveness, salvation, righteousness) based on the blood of Jesus alone. It’s not: Jesus + our behavior, that makes God happy. No. It’s Just Jesus. Just My Jesus.
We don’t do to receive, we are so we do.
We don’t do to receive, we are so we do.
Our actions follow our understanding of our true identity.
Here is what I know. The apostle Paul tells us in Hebrews 12:2 that Jesus, My Jesus, is the author and perfecter, the finisher, of our faith. From start to finish He is doing the work. He loves you (all of us) exactly how we are. Whatever He does at the point when you surrender to His love, is up to Him. Not you. You don’t have to get your act together. In fact you can’t, so stop trying. You just look to Him. He will do amazing things in and through you. Don’t you trust Him to do that in you? It’s all about Him. It’s all about My Jesus.
Jesus Finished a complete and perfect work on the cross.
Jesus Finished a complete and perfect work on the cross.
Do you believe that the work on the Cross is finished or still needs your attempts at improving upon it? For so much of my Christian Life, I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand the simple and beautiful truth of the Finished work Jesus did on the Cross. I thought that Jesus paid for my past sins and got me into heaven, but everything between the point of salvation and earthly death, was up to me trying really hard to be really good. I thought so much of my relationship with God hinged on me. I thought God’s daily purpose in my life was: the cross + my good efforts to keep Him pleased with me.
But friends, this isn’t the real Jesus. It’s the one buried by religious lies.
Religion focuses on you and your behavior while God focuses on Jesus and His behavior.
Jesus was the perfect sacrifice because He was perfect. This is something we can never achieve. The true meaning for sin is probably not what you think it is. It’s not disobeying the Bible or breaking a commandment. The real, Biblical, and original definition for sin is simply “missing the mark.”
– The Word Picture for Sin –
– The Word Picture for Sin –
Whether you are standing in front of a target with a bow and arrow barely in hand not even trying to hit the target and undeniably miss the bullseye by a long shot, or if you focus really hard, spend every day practicing, concentrate as hard as you can, and miss the bullseye by a hairline fraction, you’ve still “missed the mark.” That is sin – both scenarios. And the fact is we have all missed it. Whether we haven’t even cared to try or whether we’ve devoted our entire lives to trying, we’ve missed it. The only human that has walked on this earth that has hit the bullseye is Jesus. My Jesus. Friends, the truth is, those who don’t care enough to try and those who have developed highly skilled spiritual disciplines are still in the same boat. We’ve all “missed the mark.” This is the truth of the Finished work of the cross. Only Jesus, My Jesus, has hit the bullseye. God’s formula for favor, or blessing, or being pleased with you is not: the cross+your good behavior and trying really hard. Remember your good behavior and trying really hard still “misses the mark” (the very definition of sin). No – the only formula God has for our salvation, as well as His blessing, favor, and being pleased with us all the time, is and will only ever be: Jesus. The Cross + Nothing forever. Friends, this is My Jesus.
God’s view of you doesn’t hinge on you; it hinges on Jesus
Jesus took our place. He suffered the pain. He paid the price. He did it all on our behalf. That’s My Jesus.
He wants to be your Jesus too. How do I know? He died in an extravagant effort to tell you so.
“They’ve taken my Jesus and I don’t know where they put Him.” – Mary Magdalene…(& now Angel Lovoy Moore)
I don’t know where many churches and religious people have put Him, but I hope that by reading this today, you have seen the true Jesus. My Jesus. The Jesus who loves you unconditionally. The one who isn’t wanting you to preform for Him. He’s not looking to get a hold of you so He can change you…Will you change if you come to Him? Absolutely. Because Love, real Love, brings out the best in us. We don’t change because we have to, or because He wants us to, or to please Him. Our Father is already pleased with you because of Jesus. No. We are changed from the inside out because Love opens our eyes to see, to know, and to rest in our acceptance by Him. We no longer see ourselves as blemished and filthy. We start to see ourselves as whole and pure. When we experience that Love we can’t help but Love in return. Not only the One who first loved us, but those whom He loves as well. We are forever changed by His extravagant Love.
We aren’t changed in order to be loved, we are changed forever because of Love. This, my friends, is My Jesus.
We aren’t changed in order to be loved, we are changed forever because of Love. This, my friends, is My Jesus.
If the Jesus you thought you knew about is the Jesus that has been altered and buried by lies and religion, I pray that My Jesus will be raised to life in your heart and in your mind and that He will become Your Jesus too.
On your journey consider this…
The Jesus you think you know might be buried under religious lies, while the true Jesus has been resurrected to Life and is longing to set you Free.
Journey to Grace Land 