There are people in this world who tell us they love Jesus. Some of them are in full-time ‘Jesus-y’ jobs. Some of them talk about the Bible and pray on social media or on the radio or TV.
However, what if loving Jesus doesn’t need to have anything to do with talking about Jesus or praying to Jesus?
What if it can simply mean, whatever I am doing, I do it with integrity and put all my heart into it?
What if it meant, if I work in a totally secular environment – say, a superstore, that is all about making profit and not at all about Jesus per se (I did work in one of those for a summer, many years ago) – what if it meant, treating each person who crosses my path as if they were an angel, or maybe even Jesus himself?
And by that I don’t mean being weird and bowing down or something. I mean, making eye contact and treating them like a human being I respect. Taking time to show them to an aisle if they can’t find something. Being kind to them even if they are rude to me, because I don’t know what kind of day (or week, or month, or life) they are having.
Maybe it means noticing something about another person so I can compliment them – in a respectful, not a creepy way. That maybe is more possible if I’m the customer and the other person is safely separated from me by the conveyor I put my groceries on to check out. I like to say things like “ooh I like your nails” (only if it’s true that they clearly put effort in or have had them professionally done – I’m not lying – so it takes effort to notice what I can comment on) and see a light come into their eyes, and a different tone as they respond to me. Sometimes it doesn’t seem to do anything for them – they are preoccupied – and that doesn’t matter. It only matters that I made an effort to treat them as a human being rather than a barely human mechanism that enables me to pay for my groceries.
Maybe loving Jesus means I should love the universe God created. I should not be wasteful. I should engage in ways that I feel specifically called to, to help the environment. I should care about social injustice and work to bring about change if that’s what I am called to.
Loving Jesus always means caring about the wellbeing of those I live with. That’s non-negotiable even they don’t know or care about Jesus. It doesn’t mean ‘preaching’ to them. It means being the spouse or parent they want and need. Sometimes it means not being what they want, but, on the whole it’s best to start with what they want first and see if that works.
Loving Jesus even means caring about my own well-being because I will be better at all the other things if I am paying attention to my own physical and mental health.
For what it’s worth I see strong validation of my thoughts about non-Jesus-y things counting as loving Jesus here –
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matt 25:34-40, NIV)
Anyway my online friend Jason Horton wrote this on facebook:
It seems a terrible waste of a life to dedicate it to an imaginary entity when there is an actual, wonderful real world out there to explore with a real life that you could embrace.
I agree! And that’s why I believe that loving Jesus and embracing real life should be one and the same. I agree with NT Wright who (I believe) sees God’s goal as making heaven and earth one, and ours as working to make earth more like heaven, in every way we can. Here are a couple of NT Wright quotes:
“Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord’s Prayer is about.”
“It is central to Christian living that we should celebrate the goodness of creation, ponder its present brokenness, and, insofar as we can, celebrate in advance the healing of the world, the new creation itself. Art, music, literature, dance, theater, and many other expressions of human delight and wisdom, can all be explored in new ways.”
Jason also wrote:
As for an afterlife, I think it is better not to believe that there is anything beyond this life. If I’m wrong and your god exists and is just then I’ll be in for a surprise but otherwise I’ll continue to live as if this is my one shot at living.
I believe loving Jesus should (mostly) look like this is our one shot at living and so we take it very seriously and make the most of it. We do our best to make this world a better place, as long as we are in it. There are Christians who literally put their life on the line and I respect their choices. But for most of us, our life is not on the line. We are called to be kind rather than sacrifice our very life for others.
I believe that almost always, when people are truly loving Jesus, they will evoke respect from others, no matter what those others believe.