Be Jesus

The Saturday morning lesson at WinterFest was “Be Jesus.” I had the privilege to meet one of the most fascinating persons named Marilyn Laszlo. Marilyn studied linguistics at the University of Oklahoma and then kept her commitment to God by serving with Wycliffe Bible Translators. She traveled to Papua New Guinea, with a translation partner, to Hauna Village, home of the Sepik Iwam people. Marilyn, her sister Shirley, and their language helpers took an unwritten language and created an alphabet and reading books, and taught the people to read and write (copied from her blog/ to know more about Marilyn go to (http://marilynlaszlo.blogspot.com/). She was the perfect example of “Being Jesus” however, in his sermon, Jeff Walling reminded us that we do not have to go overseas or to some foreign country to be Jesus. We can be Jesus to our neighbors, our friends, our family, our church members, people at the grocery store, teachers at school, etc.

Think about what Jesus did. Luke 4:17-19 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “ The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
Jesus did just what the prophets claimed He would do. He touched lepers, opened blind eyes, ate with sinners in their homes, set people free from demonic torture, etc. He did all of this in local neighborhoods, people that He grew up with as a child. Jesus traveled around the local villages and people would flock to Him. Every time He would stop to give some teaching, there would be hundreds, sometimes thousands of people hanging on every word He said. They just couldn’t get enough!

What happened to that environment? We have to beg and beg people just to have an opportunity to share Christ with them. It seems that hardly anyone is interested in what we say or do as Christians. Why? Could the problem be with us and not the world? Could it possibly be that over a period of time Christians have stopped “being Jesus” and the world has turned a cold shoulder? We simply need to “Be Jesus.” When it’s not popular, when it’s challenging, when you are being threatened, though it’s the hardest thing to do…Be Jesus. Reach out to this lost and dying world, make a difference for Christ. Simply put…”Be Jesus.”