jesus

Be The One

Last week in church, we finished our final section of our study called “For The One.” This is a rebranding for our church, as before our slogan was “For the Basin” referencing the Permian Basin, for those readers that aren’t familiar with west Texas. This study had five areas we want to exemplify as Christians:

  • Follow the One
  • Reach the One
  • Serve the One
  • Gather as One
  • Be the One

Each week we studied one of these areas and learned the importance of each of these areas and how they are fundamental to not only the church, but to our individual walks with God. Sundays final lesson, “Be the One” focused on spiritual maturity and how we obtain spiritual maturity. Our pastor, Jeremiah, spoke about what spiritual maturity is and what it is not. It’s not really like Jeremiah to call anyone out, but he was a bit more fiery than usual.

He told us spiritual maturity isn’t about how long you’ve been a Christian, how much Bible knowledge you have, how elevated your morality is, or how deeply spiritual you are. This touched on so many issues we have in the church today. Things that deter new Christians from finding their sense of belonging within the church. Statements like “well I’ve been here for X amount of years so I know what’s best” or “I go to church so I’m clearly a better person than they are.” “I raise my hands and worship more openly so I clearly have a better connection with God” or “WELL ACTUALLY the Bible says blah blah blah.” I’m sure all of us at some point have heard something along these lines. We’ve all heard something that has made us feel inferior in our faith walk.

I think in today’s society we’ve become stuck in what’s called the bystander effect. This term was coined when a Kitty Genovese was being attacked and sexually assaulted outside her apartment complex. After her murder, police found that 38 people witnessed the violent attack, yet no one called the police or even went to help her. Majority of people said “I thought someone else would call/help her.” The attacker was detoured twice by lights coming on in the building but ultimately returned to Kitty for a third time to stab her to death. This is why during emergency situations, with any sort of training (CPR, EMT, etc) you are trained to point to one person and instruct them to call the police because in theory, most people will assume someone else will do it. If you elect one single person to call it eliminates varying stories about the events as well as the inaction of every person present.

How many times in our lives do we refuse to help someone we see suffering or struggling in life because we assume that someone else is going to do it? We’ve become a world of “not my problem.” I can tell you I’ve lost people in my life because all of us thought “not my problem, someone else will help them.” Even outside the realm of religion and spirituality, being “The One” for someone could save them. Being that one person who takes the time to show love and compassion to someone who is stuck or hurt could result in a single defining moment that changes everything for them. We need to ask ourselves every time we hesitate “If not me, then who?” Most of the time, there is not another “who.”

Our life is made up of small moments. Singular interactions where we only have minutes to change the path someone is going down. So step out of your comfort zone and reach out to someone the next time you feel that inkling that they’re needing someone to be their one.

The Chosen

I’ve been wanting to write this post for a couple weeks, but honestly I have been waiting for my obsession with this show to die down. News Flash: it hasn’t! If you haven’t heard of The Chosen it is a biblical narrative of the gospels. It’s based on the book The Chosen which was written by the same author as The Left Behind Series. Jerry Jenkins, the author, developed a background and plot line for the characters of the gospels based off of the Bible. It gives depth and humanity to the stories we have heard in the New Testament. Its described as “Seeing Jesus through the eyes of those who knew Him.”

A few weeks ago we watched this clip from this show at church and it featured the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan women at the well. In this scene we see dialog that isn’t written in the Bible, to which of course my Bible College husband immediately remarked “this isn’t Biblically accurate.” However, there was this beautiful moment where I really felt like this was a portrayal of Jesus that I had felt in my heart for years and I was finally seeing him on a screen. This kind, gentle, forgiving, and compassion man who came to save those that others condemned. A couple weeks later, Anthony and I decided to start watching. Little to our knowledge, season 1 was already done and season 2 was starting. As soon as we started, I couldn’t get enough. I wanted so much more, not only of Jesus, but of the other characters. I wanted more of Simon’s arrogance, more of Matthew’s growth, and more of Mary’s redemption, among so many others.

I watched an interview today with the director of The Chosen and he discussed the views and beliefs of the project because they have been met with a lot of criticism, as you can imagine. Dallas talked about how their crew is from a large variety of belief systems, some even none believers, and how their goal is to give life to the characters of the Bible. They arent a domination or non-profit organization. They aren’t adding to the Bible or replacing it because it needs no improvement, but adding cultural and historical background to the characters we already know. They are creating a show that is inspired by the Bible. They aren’t saying their show is the word of God, but they want to give the world a new, personal look at Jesus and the relationship with people. They aren’t trying to convert anyone or force anyone to change their beliefs. They have Evangelicals, Mormons, Catholics, Jews, and so many others creating this show. They believe that this is a calling for their life and that they are to take extreme care with the content.

One reason I’ve fallen so in love with this show is the portrayal of Jesus. So often in religion we forget that Jesus became fully man. We forget that he had family and friends and most Biblical shows or movies portray him as this stoic deity and remove the humanity from him. Don’t get me wrong, Jesus was fully God and fully man, but I have a hard time believing he came to this earth and from birth had no emotional connection with anyone and just came here to die and be resurrected. The Bible talks about how Jesus knows how we feel. When we mourn, he mourns with us. When we’re joyful, he rejoices with us. So when I see a show with Jesus making jokes at his disciples, or teaching children, or showing his mother love, I can’t help but feel pride. Like “Yes this is the Jesus I have fallen so deeply in love with and now everyone gets to see it!” And I know Jonathan Roumie isn’t Jesus, but I believe the script and team have been truly blessed with this project.

They have an app where you can check out all episodes of the show. They are also available on YouTube and Facebook. Or if you’re a reader you can also check out the book at https://thechosengifts.com/collections/apparel. I normally dont push for anyone to do anything, but this show is something special and I’m literally counting the days till the next episode. They are releasing them as they make them so we don’t have to wait 6 months between seasons. Granted we have to wait a couple of weeks between episodes instead of a week at a time, but I can live with it.