Because His Power is Pure

Two dusty-headed boys leapt for joy as the appliance guy jerked his truck into gear and sped out onto the street. Now they were free to claim their corrugated prize. Hardly anything stokes a kid's imagination like 98 square feet of refrigerator box. With gleeful fingers, two cardboard engineers dragged their raw material from the garage to the strip of lawn beside the driveway. Immediately, they flew into a frenzy of drawing and painting, delighting in the roar of steak knife through pastey brown paper. They barely talked to one another, as if the blueprint for this masterwork had already been hard-wired into both of their brains.

A few hours later, they finished her. Every square foot - square inch - of appliance box bore the creative signature of those engineers-now-turned-astronauts. Against a blue mortise above the porthole windows, white letters proclaimed, "Rockit 2 the Moon."

As night began to fall, the intrepid "rockitmen" realized they could not move the mother ship for fear of damaging her. Up went the two-man tent. Out came the flashlights and slingshots. These guys had the right stuff! Surely, a moon shuttle would be snatched away in the wee hours if front-lawn security wasn't maximized. When you've got lunar transport power, there WILL be thieves!

Days went by and our box jockeys enjoyed their interplanetary treks. But the truth is, a shuttle that can't survive a move to the backyard has only imaginary power. It never will "rockit" anyone to the moon. And that's why there were no thieves. No one conspired to seize the cardboard conveyance for their own pro-lunar purposes. There simply wasn't any real power there.

Sometimes, when I tell people that I follow Jesus, they wonder how I could do such a thing. After all, so much violence and hatred have flowed from Christians in the course of history, so much strange and cultic behavior performed in the name of Jesus. And my reponse is, "That's true." But when a person or a cause is seen to have real power, it will inevitably be hijacked. There WILL be thieves. Nevertheless, weird and wicked misappropriation of Jesus' name does not diminish the real power of Christ and His message. It simply means we have to do our homework.

Read through the four New Testament stories of the life of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.) Notice the supernatural power of Jesus. Now ask yourself, "How did He use that power?" He fed people. He healed people. He saved lives by stilling storms. He set people free from the torment of demons. He raised a delicate child, an only son, and a beloved brother from the dead. How pure and compassionate was Jesus' use of power!

Is there any supernatural hatred and violence in the Jesus story? Even at the height of His anger, in the midst of moneychangers defiling the temple, Jesus tempered His emotions and reined in His power. He used only His ordinary human strength to overturn the tables. My God, He could have launched them into orbit. He could have vaporized them! But that is not the character nor the will of Jesus. He has real power, matchless power, but His power is pure. Jesus did not stone the woman caught in adultery. He never laid a hand on His enemies. He did not strike back at those who struck, tortured, and crucified Him ...

With His power, Jesus flexed His mercy and produced not retaliation, but reconciliation. By His power I am fed, healed, saved, set free, and blessed with abundant and eternal life. I love Him to the moon and back!

That's why I follow Jesus.
Won't you?

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  John 8:12