A few years ago, I had a really surreal experience. I spent roughly 15 minutes removing Jesus from my life. Yep, you read that write. We had purchased a truck that had a giant sticker of a crucified Jesus on the back window. While I’m not a sticker guy, and I was not the biggest fan of the looks of this particular sticker, I felt awkward getting rid of Jesus. When a friend told us some of the cultural connotations such a sticker has in Nicaragua (anti-evangelical) I figured I should remove it. So, there I was, spending 15-minutes literally ripping Jesus off my truck. As I did this I had a few thoughts:
- Rejecting Jesus is easier then removing a sticker from your car. We reject Jesus so often, and we don’t even give it a second thought. We don’t follow scripture as we should, we don’t always love our neighbor, and we too often follow the world over Christ. Every time we sin we are rejecting the ways of Jesus.
- Receiving Jesus is easier then putting a sticker on your car. This was quite a large and intricate sticker, not simply a one-piece bumper sticker. It would have taken some time, effort, planning, and hard-work to put it on correctly. Yet, receiving eternal life in a perfect Heaven is perhaps even easier. I John 1:9 sums up the process perfectly: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. See, all the time, effort, planning, suffering, and “heavy lifting” for our salvation has already been done by Christ. The thing we most need, eternal life, we don’t have to earn, but are given as a gift because of Jesus’ love and grace. Its so amazing to me that something so great and eternal has been given to us at such a huge cost to Jesus.
- You can never truly get rid of Jesus. This is the best news! Regardless of our sinfulness Jesus can never be fully removed from our lives.
I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. John 6:35-37
When we fall He is there to catch us. When we struggle He is there to support us. When we are lost He is there to guide us. Most importantly, He has already permanently paid the price for our sin. Sin and death have been conquered on the Cross for all those who confess Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Oh, and while I do not believe in jinxes, that truck actually never ran again after I took that sticker off (completely true story)! We ended up selling it for scrap months later. And really, that’s a good metaphor for our lives. Without Jesus we are lost: both in our lives and for eternity. We need Jesus in our lives, so let’s take care to not try to remove Him.
