Jesus: Far More than a Fix-It Man

At his blog, A Mind Full of Mud Puddles, my friend Brett Barton had some great thoughts today on our dependence on Jesus. He humbly and wisely points out the following, which is uncomfortably familiar to my own life:

I call myself a Christian -- a follower of Jesus -- but in all honesty, I am a terrible Christian. I rarely do the things the Bible says that Christians should do (pray, read my Bible, feed the hungry, give to the poor, etc.) and am much more skilled at finding new and creative ways to sin. It took me a while before I realized that I was a perfect candidate for being a Christian since I was hopelessly dependent on the saving work of Jesus. However even in that, I have had a distorted view of Jesus as something other than my living savior and treated him more as if he was my primary care physician.

Far too often we espouse the kind of "prosperity gospel" that treats Jesus merely as a means to getting health, wealth and happiness.  As such, we often just want Jesus to fix the things that are wrong with our lives so that we can become self-sufficient, no longer needing him until our next problem.

I am reminded of a dear woman in our congregation who was facing all sorts of physical and emotional trials. As I prayed with and for her, I recall how much the content of her prayers impressed me. She prayed not primarily for healing and relief, but rather for strength and courage to endure her difficulties. She knew that a loving and sovereign God was working in and through them for her growth, and she wanted to trust him more to do so.

I think this is the kind of faith that Brett is trying to encourage in his blog. He goes on to point out:

When Jesus said that he was (and is) the Way, the Truth and the Life, I believe that he is saying that he is not only the means to an end, but he is also the end. So now it is becoming more clear that I have been praying and asking Jesus to help me save myself, when he is the one in the business of savings lives. He is the savior. I am the savee. He must increase. I must decrease. Why am I asking him to fix me so that I don't need him as much? That's not really fixing me, now is it?

This is how the weak can say they are strong and the poor can say they are rich. It's not that once Jesus comes into the picture, they will no longer be sick and struggle to pay their bills. No, it's that the weak have something better than bulging muscles and a clean bill of health. They have given up their striving to save themselves and are at peace in the hands of the savior.

May we all (beginning with me) look to Jesus not only as a solution in the midst of difficulties.  Rather, let us see him as the one who has already solved our biggest problem: our estrangement from God; and the one who teaches us that true health, wealth and happiness are found only in an abiding relationship with him.

Click here to read Brett's entire post.