Is Jesus Too Safe?

The following is a excerpt from a blog by Jared Wilson. You can find the full entry here Jesus and Imago Homo and a link to his book here Your Jesus Too Safe. SDG

'It was G.K. Chesterton who, in his defense of Christian orthodoxy, said, "I did not make it. It is making me."

Can we say that of Jesus? Can we say the Jesus we believe in, rest in, trust in is the Jesus who is making us? Or is He the one we'd prefer, the one who's most like us, who's safer and nicer, who reflects all of our personal or political values and idiosyncrasies? Is Jesus making us, or is he the Jesus of our own making?

It is quite possible to make an idol of Jesus. Which is not to say that Jesus is not to be worshiped. He is the only Man worthy of worship. What I mean is, it is possible to project a self-idolatry onto Jesus, to mistake our own satisfaction with ourselves for authentic discipleship, instead of worshiping the real, living God in the real, resurrected person of Jesus Christ.

Here's one personal test I subject my own reading of the Gospels to (which actually works quite well when reading any Scripture): Is it freaking me out? Am I convicted, challenged, impressed, scared, or inspired? Am I moved?

The Word of God -- both the living Word and the written word -- is transformational revelation. If we are not being transformed by the Christ of Scripture and the Scripture of Christ, we are not reading either correctly.' - Jared Wilson