"I'm just a guy who Jesus loves." - Mike Breaux, Willow Creek

What if it were as simple as that? How would our everyday troubles, our big picture goals, our trials and tribulations, joys and sorrows be informed and shaped by finding our identity there and there alone?

If at the center of everything was this knowledge that the core of our identity was as guys and girls that Jesus loved, it would change everything. Being a disciple, becoming a disciple, all of it would be different. Evangelism would be fun. Worship would be sweeter than ever. Can you imagine singing your guts out to your creator along with a choir of voices who all understood that their whole life begins each morning with a tight grasp on being loved by Jesus?

We'd have perspective. We'd have context. When hard stuff came, we'd start here and move from there. Even life's toughest moments could be met with a profoundly simple clarity. Praying for people, turning from sin, leading, following, work, being in community... all of the longing, the fears, those crushing moments that make you start to question everything, imagine if all of those moments simply started with a gentle reminder that we're just people that Jesus loves. Everything else is secondary to that.

There's the sum total of my Lenten reflections. Everything else that I thought I needed to think about lead there. And from there I can work back out with a different understanding of what it means.

Easter has implications for everyone, whether they've chosen to let Jesus into their deep places or not. Jesus died for everyone, and if He died for everyone because He loved us... that means He loves everyone.

Labels: Jesus