The Jesus I Want

In the Galleria Mall, there is a Build-A-Bear store. In this store, you get to fully customize whatever type of stuffed animal you would like. You get to pick the color, the name, and even what it says. You get to individualize this stuffed animal however you like.

Customizing a stuffed animal is fun.
Customizing a Savior is dangerous.

If we are not careful, we create in our minds the Jesus we want to follow—a Jesus that looks like us, lives like us, and chooses who to love like us. We create a picture of Jesus that conforms to our desired way of life. This is dangerous!

I asked on Sunday, “Is the Jesus you follow shaped more by Scripture or by your preference?”

What does that mean? Are you like Peter who says to Jesus, “You will be safe under my watch! I will protect you!”?

Or maybe you have created a Jesus that affirms every choice you make. You can justify failing to love others because of the way they treated you. You manipulate Scripture or ignore it altogether to sleep well at night with your choices.

It is a dangerous proposition when we prefer the Jesus of our creation over the Jesus of the sacred text—when we trust in a God we have manufactured rather than the God who made the world. Why is this dangerous? Our invented Jesus cannot save. Only the real Jesus can!

The real Jesus is not the one we design.
He is the one revealed in Scripture — the crucified and risen Son of God.

Where are you prone to veer away from the Jesus of the Bible to believe a Jesus of your own creation?