audrey caroline

Okay as of late in my life, I’ve used the term “literally” in not so literal ways. Which it is totes cray that words get morphed to mean things they don’t actually mean over time. For instance I say things like, “I’ve literally never been this hungry in my whole life…” “I have literally 8,000 hours of homework to do.” No, no not literally… So yes, I’m guilty of using this term to just exaggerate and convey things really emphatically.

With that in mind, I think that how I have used the word “literally” might give me some good insight on how I and many of us treat Jesus. (Right now I really don’t know where exactly I’m going with this…but it here it goes…)

If we took Jesus literally, for who is and is meant to be, our lives would LITERALLY be reconstructed entirely. I, for example, HAVE been someone who hasn’t taken Jesus too literally…therefore most of my life there hasn’t really ever been distinction between who I USED TO BE and who Jesus has reconstructed me to be. And I had always seen people with whom you could clearly see a distinction between the old and the new, and I KNEW Jesus had had some serious implications and meaning in their lives… I mean it’s obvious… they completely turned their life upside down for Him.

I’m not trying to downplay the “growing process.” But I think… just thinking… that there should be a moment or a period where we are on the brink of being a completely NEW person. We realize despite our upbringing (churched or unchurched), that even though maybe I’ve grown up in the church and all of this seems stale to me, I desperately NEED Jesus to overcome the stale, stagnant numbness and create me into someone completely new. So much that someone would not even be able to tell that I grew up in the church even though that is a vital part of my testimony. My conversion would be just as drastic and life-altering as everyone’s should be. I think it is good to ask, have I taken Jesus literally? Who did I used to be? How has Jesus changed me? Or have I changed at all?

It is easy in the “church culture” for our need for Jesus to slowly morph into some watered-down version of His intended meaning in our lives… We slip into that rather than truly taking Jesus literally as the ONE and ONLY source from which every aspect of my life should flow…. Why is he THAT important??? He can’t become that important to us unless we know why. The facts are… we are hopeless without him. Without Jesus, life doesn’t exist. Debatable statement for some, not for us who call ourselves Christians. In short, it was intended ever since God breathed life into Adam for us to be in an intimate relationship with our Maker. (And it’s more wonderful than most of us have imagined..so pursue it!) We had the choice whether to leave the reigns in God’s hands or take them for ourselves. We began to take control of our lives….and thus separated ourselves from God. 

After we realize the divide, the sin, our failed attempt to control and orchestrate our own lives without God which results in death… we are then ready to accept the wonderful arrangement that was made for us. We aren’t without hope. We are MEANT to be with God. So Jesus came. Jesus lived with us, experienced life and loved. And he experienced the death that was the result of all of us denying our purpose to glorify God. He made the way. He did it. And he was resurrected… He was literally dead and became literally alive… signifying His power over death for ALL people. We are invited to this resurrection life…

Jesus is literal. He is important. And people who realize their desperate need for Him and take His invitation literally… their lives never look the same again.