Jesus is not Customizable

I've been reading a great book by David Platt called, "Follow Me." I encourage you to read it. It is explaining the true meaning of Jesus calling us to follow Him.

I read this section and it reminded me of how I need more of Jesus and less of me: 

"Almost unknowingly, we shrink back from this cost, choosing to redefine Christianity according to our personal preferences, church traditions, and cultural norms. Slowly, subtly, we take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into someone with whom we are a little more comfortable. We dilute what he says about the cost of following him, we disregard what he says about those who choose not to follow him, we practically ignore what he says about materialism, and we functionally miss what he says about mission. We pick and choose what we like and don’t like from Jesus’ teachings. In the end, we create a nice, non-offensive, politically correct, middle-class, American Jesus who looks just like us and thinks just like us. But Jesus is not customizable. He has not left himself open to interpretation, adaptation..."

We do not define Jesus by our culture, but by what the Bible says.

My life should be customized and changed by Christ not the other way around. Following Christ is a continual change and renewal to become more like Him. This is what it truly means to be customized.

Be encouraged! Jesus' customized life for us is better than what we could ever dream up on our own power. 
 

This Week's Message in 10 Tweets

"How to Read the Bible" was a stand alone message for our middle school students. 

1)  Every word of the Bible is God’s voice.

2) The way to know God’s heart is to read His Word. 

3)  Read the Bible until God speaks to you. 

4)  Understand “scripture interprets scripture” – Ever word is part of a sentence, sentence is part of a paragraph and so on.

5)  Ask the questions about the background of the scripture to understand the context. 

6) How do you live out what the verse(s) in your personal life?

7) Ask the question,  “How will I be different today because of what I have just read?”

8)  Write down specific prayer requests about your personal needs. 

9) Learn to feed yourself God's Word so you won't remain a spiritual infant. 

10) The greatest way to grow to become like Christ is to read and obey God's Word everyday. 

InstaLife Series Week 3 - Message in 10 Tweets

#instalife series – week 3 “#followback”The teaching from week 2 in 140 characters or less…

1) Recap of Week 2:  Life is not about drawing attention to self, but denying self to follow Jesus (Luke 9:23). 

2) Friends determine the direction of your life, so choose wisely. 

3) Who you follow closely in friendship will determine the quality and direction of your life.

4)The people who are closest to you have influence on your life. They help shape who you are. 

5) You and I can have lots of online friendships but still be isolated and lonely. 

6) Realize friends will either make you or break you  (Proverbs 13:20). 

7) Show me your close friends and it will reveal your future.

8) Be the kind of friend you want to have in your own life (Proverbs 17:17, 18:24). 

9) Real friends keep each other accountable (Proverbs 27:17, 27:6).  

10) Jesus is the best definition of a true friend: “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13. 

To watch any of the series messages, check out vimeo