The Lamb Was Slain - Thank God!

             I posted a tweet recently that was simply this: "Jesus didn't die so some of us could be good - He died because He knew none of us can be."

             It was in response to something I had read that day. Here's the quote: "When you wake up in the morning and the devil is against you and wants to ruin your day before it even starts, you put on your bandana, war paint, and grab your machete and tell him where to go!"

             I so appreciate the sentiment behind this quote. I truly do. We are a people in America who want to, "go after it" and as Tullian Tchividjian says, "We would rather have someone tell us that it will take a lot of work on our part, than tell us there is nothing we can do". The problem is - there really is nothing we can do and before you write angry comments remember - I didn't say it - Jesus did.
             This ongoing sermon series of, "picking yourself up by your bootstraps" we preach in America and other western nations was not something preached by Jesus or by the preachers in the New Testament. Frankly - this view is not scriptural at all - for two main reasons.
1. It GREATLY over-exaggerates the human ability to do the right thing with the right motive at the right time, all the time.
and
2. It GREATLY underestimates our inescapable, omnipresent need for a savior, when compared with the height of the perfection that Jesus lived.
            It also completely misses the clear, scriptural fact that the life of Jesus was lived much more as a sacrifice for us, than as an example to us. Not because the Lord is not worthy of emulation, but because He is simply not able to be emulated by sinners like us! We are not capable, in our fallen form, with or without Christ, to reflect Him accurately for anything more than a split second here and there. Please understand - I do not say this to bring guilt to my brothers and sisters, but to bring the  liberty your heart has been craving. When we understand and grasp the fact that we are SOOO lacking and still have a Savior willing to shed God's blood in His pursuit of us, it changes us at a fundamental level, and simply changes how we wish to operate.
            I do not feel guilty as often. I am changing because as I fall in love with Jesus, I simply don't want the same things. I still fall (often) - but that becomes a secondary issue because my faith is about the finished work of Jesus, and the lost still here, and not about me working selfishly to please a God who is already pleased at the expense of loving those who need Him desperately. The more our life becomes about them the less we will sin. It is a natural byproduct of serving, and getting outside ourselves, as we know as Christians that all sin comes out of us according to Jesus in Matthew 15:11. 
             Now this doesn't mean that we won't sin even in the middle of our service to Him (ie. our pride, arrogance, Pharisaism creeps in, at some level, as it exists in all of us) - it just means that the fact we are sinners loses it's power to manipulate us when we realize that it's not really about us anyway, It's about them - and that our sin is not really even the issue.
            Understanding my own weakness, and God's love and mercy in spite of it, helps me to understand that because I am loved, I begin to DESIRE to change. I am no longer obsessively compelled to change myself by guilt and fear. I now just WANT to do the right thing more than I did, but I also see that the "right thing" is no longer selfishly about me and my sinlessness - it's about them and their need for Jesus love. I don't need to report to big brother - I'm just trying to love my brother - because the battle is already won. I do not fear my redeemer - I seek Him out of sheer delight, and don't obey out of fear that if I don't, I will lose favor with Him, or disappoint Him. I want to live like Jesus because I love Him - and I just don't want to let a loved-one down. I do not fear God's wrath or reprisal - I understand that if God says it's the best way - It's the best way and I can trust Him. I believe Him - because He is good - even when I can't trust myself.
             I wrote a song for Easter years ago whose chorus just says this - "The Lamb was slain - The Lamb was slain - Thank God!" (BTW - You can hear it at www.ronbakerjr.com/music/thelambwasslain.mp3 if you want.)
              Praise God today that only one good (Jesus) was enough - then to live free in the love He gives freely, and you will see quickly that there are plenty of other people just as need of a savior as you are. Understand that 1 Corinthians 13 speaks truth when it tells us that Love never fails - even when we do. The Lamb was slain - Thank GOD!

A Faith That Suffers

            What is the life of a Christian supposed to look like? Is it Church services and Bible studies five nights a week? Is it knowing the bible inside and out? Is it sinning less and less and less? Ummmm – No - although many act as if that were true.

So many in America believe their faith is to be an upward climb of some sort, leading to us sinning less and being nicer and becoming more and more like Jesus, “every day, in every way”. They live their faith out, although they wouldn’t say it this way, as though if they are good – God will bless them and when they are bad – God will punish them. As someone has said, “That’s not Christianity – that’s karma.”

The message of the Bible is a simple one of God’s radical grace toward a people that can’t keep themselves from getting into trouble and constantly needed (and still need) to be rescued. It is the story of a suffering savior, who lived His entire life in poverty, and yet was richer than Bill Gates and Oprah combined. Jesus laughed and danced and sang and turned water into wine and He knew how to have fun, but He also suffered throughout His life. Not only the suffering he went through during the day of His crucifixion, but all through His ministry we find Him weeping for Jerusalem or sweating blood, or grieving for the hearts of those who would betray him and kill him. He was a man that got involved in the work of God where He knew he should. He did it better than we ever could, but the way He went about things reveals a truth about life that is not preached in North American churches these days, and seems to be understood much more in countries where people are suffering or dying for their faith and places where you find the same “tired and huddled masses yearning to be free” that the statue of Liberty has been inviting into America for over 130 years. Part of life on this planet as a Christian is the concept of self-induced suffering. We are called to love the unlovely and we simply are too busy loving the lovely too often. It seems to me now that sometimes the very same things that are Americas blessings are also one of the root causes of the Church here developing a Christology that believes more in itself, and it’s programs and sermon series than on the finished work of Christ to redeem us. This paradigm revolves around seeking happiness and God’s blessing through faith and obedience and when they are sharing in His suffering, it is looked at as punishment. This should not be.

            I certainly don’t mean we all need to sell all our stuff and live as paupers, or even that we should not be hopeful of God’s blessings for our lives. It means that we serve a Savior who suffered, and whenever we do the hard work of the Gospel and “get down and dirty” with real people about real problems and cry real tears together – it hurts. You may sometimes lay awake at night with a burden for a brother or sister, or a friend who can’t find peace but won’t listen when you tell them about Jesus. You may wonder why God does things the way He does sometimes and when your friend dies of cancer even with all the prayers you prayed and tears you cried, and the hurt, and you won’t get any answer. You may even get angry with God and curse Him out. You will suffer. It is a natural result of being human in a fallen world. Christians in America need to learn that badly.

            Some reading this live in places where real suffering is going on right now, and may even know people who have died for their faith. People they love may have died for Jesus. These have hurt and cried the same tears of sorrow that Jesus cried and most in the Church in America have never tasted. This reveals itself clearly in our selfish faith, that looks more to the number of church meetings I’ve attended and how much Bible reading I’ve done, than it does the work of loving people and caring for the hurting ones He has placed right in front of us to gauge where your walk is with Jesus. It is a faith more about getting people into pews than bringing Gods love from the pews to the people who need it.

            It is honestly to the point that in some pulpits in America messages are preached where there is almost an unspoken expectation that God will bless the lives of those who are deemed to be “living for God” and punish those who step out of line. This self-obsessed Christian faith is not the one Jesus America from ten miles over any city/town/suburb - it would look like a field of stars. Each star is a church, and the darkness in between would be the places the Church doesn’t reach because too many Christians are all hidden away in their “Christian” places, and are often heard grumbling among themselves about how bad things are getting in the world.

taught or lived. In fact, it seems to be exactly what Jesus railed against and accused the Pharisees of in the Bible. Religion is now used as a tool to clean people up and make good, decent citizens out of them. That is not a faith that centers on Jesus. It is a faith that centers on us and our ability to please Him. True faith in the living God will CAUSE us to put ourselves into places where suffering is going on, because that kind of faith that understands that the darkness is where the light is needed the most. If we were to look at a map of the reach of the Church in

            Remember - God didn’t just call Jesus and the Apostles and the Church founders to share in his sufferings. He called us all.

1 Peter 4:13

“13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”

Most of us in the Church in America have an over-exaggerated opinion of the depth of our

own suffering. If we would humble ourselves, and open our eyes to the depth of suffering in the world, and take off our masks and see ourselves as the selfish lot we have become and understand that we are all really just a bunch of frail hurting people who need God and each other because we are desperate, needy, and unable to do anything of lasting value on our own. Then we will look to Jesus alone to deliver us. When we truly understand how powerless and hopeless we are when compared to our perfect God – as an individual or a nation - then and only then we can be strong.

Paul said it wonderfully in 2 Cor 12:10 –

“When I am weak, then I am strong.”

Self-induced suffering in the life of a Christian does not mean we are called to beat ourselves up. This kind of suffering is a natural result of being in close relationships with others and being involved in the lives of people with whom God has led you to. It is simply part of life as a Christian. When we see God’s love, and how He suffered for us, it is only our own pride that would cause us to expect anything different for our own lives. Plus it’s really not supposed to be about us anyway, right?

 

Thanks For Reading!

            Hi friends. This is just a short note to say thanks and let you know how much I appreciate each of you. It is a crazy busy and hectic world and for you to allow me a few minutes of your mind space every once in a while to read my blog is so cool to me, and you are truly a blessing.
            I also wanted to say I'm sorry that I'm not the type who writes on a regular schedule but when I've tried, it has always felt contrived. I decided if I was going to do this, that I could only write when the Spirit moved in me about something. The expert bloggers say that's bad for keeping an audience but I think people come back to where they are fed, so I hope you are being fed by my scribblings and I hope you will remember to check back in every once in a while for a nice drink of the cool, clear water of God's love and mercy that only Jesus can bring. I pray that each of you are touched in a wonderful way as I share the message of God's radical grace for you today and that you are enjoying a growing relationship with Jesus. If we can pray for you - please ask. If you think of us, please say a prayer. Thanks again and God bless.
        Here's a chuckle for you to close out - a pic of me and my ladies at the Baseball Hall Of Fame in Cooperstown, NY from late last summer. Aren't they beautiful!



What We Really Need For Revival Today

             Let me say this up front - We do not need to work harder for God to bring revival. We do not need more flowery Christianese language in our sermons. We do not need more church meetings. While Church meetings can be good, they very easily can become another statue we've erected in honor of our own goodness. We do not need any of those things for revival - because we are not the ones who bring revival. God ALONE is the sole deciding factor in that equation. We don't need to do more for God - we need a heart transplant. We need God's heart for people. We need to be brought so low that the only thing we have to offer God is our brokenness. That's when we will see how vast and eternal is the love of our God, and how constant is our need for His deliverance. If we want revival - I mean REALLY want it - we need to get this point - and get it at our deepest level of understanding: We are NOT good people and those who don't believe in Jesus are not bad people for one simple reason - according to the Bible there are no good people - ANYWHERE. We say we believe that in our churches, but our legalistic actions and vain attempts to earn favor with God by "all we do for Him" deceive us, and this mindset is simply destroying our ability to affect the world around us in the long term. There may even be some success at first, but eventually people all see that they simply can't measure up to the image and they either lower the requirements of God to match their behavior, and put on their church mask to appear better than they really are, or these sulk away from the Church, feeling defeated and angry.
            Please understand this - bringing into the light the poisonous mindset of legalistic, self-absorbed Christianity is not sowing discord among the brethren any more than Jesus was sowing discord when He challenged that same mindset among the Pharisees. This heresy is a cancer in our churches and needs to be eradicated by the chemotherapy of Gods radical grace and His love toward His oft misguided people.
            You who preach revival - do you all really want revival? If you do - then stop making your faith all about what God wants to do for us and make it about who we can love for Him. Stop having church meetings for the same twenty people six nights a week and go bowling, or for a walk in the park, and you may get the chance to love someone who hasn't been to a church in years. Stop with all

the silly spiritual mumbo jumbo that no one outside the Church understands and go love someone who is dirty (just like you, by the way) in Jesus name. Learn to look at the imperfections in the world and realize what they truly are - just a reflection of our own imperfections. Get off your religious high-horse and come be with the masses of people who just need to be listened to and not preached at - people who need to be loved and not judged or Bible-bashed. In order to grow the Church we MUST COME OUT OF OUR CHURCHES and bring our faith outside ourselves. Remember - His children are safe in His arms and nothing can change that. I didn't say it - Jesus did. Oh yeah - He said this too - IT IS FINISHED! When the Church starts to act as though we really believe that - then we will see revival.

What Does It Mean To Be "Free In Christ"?

There are millions of Jesus-loving Christians around the world serving God. They live and love and eat and sleep and die for God each day around the globe. Each one has their own set of strengths and weaknesses, failure and flaws, sins and successes. According to Romans 3:23, they have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of our amazing God.

In my 20+ years of walking with Jesus, serving as worship leader or on the worship team in numerous churches, as well as several hundred

concert events, ministering in music for the brothers and sisters of God’s great Church, I have met thousands of wonderful Christians in many states and from many countries. They each have been called by God and equipped to do His work and I know many of them love Jesus more than me. I have noticed over the years that it seems like the Christians I have served with serve Jesus for one of two main reasons – They either serve Jesus because they believe that is how they keep favor with God, or they serve because they know they have already found favor with Him, just because He called them, and are eternally safe and secure in His arms. These also know that when the gift of salvation is given by God it can NEVER be taken away by anyone on Earth – including the one who has been blessed with that gift. Understand that this is not about salvation. Both of these types of believers know Jesus and will see Him in Heaven. It's a matter of whether we live our lives on Earth with liberty or in a religious bondage of our own making.

Two years ago God allowed me to see through some unsound doctrine that I had been taught in more than a few churches, doctrine that bound me to a system of sin management and religious rules, instead of the liberty Jesus promises. This moved me solidly in to the second group. It seemed that the ones who felt obligated to please God by their behavior and ever-increasing holiness always seemed tired, they often felt guilty, and made others feel guilty too. They would repent of the same sins over and over, and run to the altar every time there was an altar call. They would sometimes become almost neurotic in their behavior toward their sin and would often isolate themselves from non-Christians to such an extent that they spent almost no time with anyone outside the Church, and even when they were at work in their secular jobs they would keep their distance, not wanted to be sullied by the non-believers around them. There was very little freedom or liberty in their lives, and they served mostly out of fear, because how could they REALLY know how good is good enough, or how ‘holy’ did they really have to be. Most of the time when they were not working they felt guilty for not doing more.

Whenever we make the love of God dependent upon our performance, when failure and sin come, and they ALWAYS do, the natural tendency is for us to run from Jesus instead of to Him.

The other group smiles more. They dance more. They sing more. They are more fun at parties because they know the fate of the world doesn’t hang on their shoulders because it already hung on a cross for them. They understand, and don’t deny their inherent sin nature, before and after salvation, and they understand that they will always be sinful until they see Jesus face to face. They get it, that no matter how hard they work they will never be worthy of standing in God’s presence on their own. They know that the love God has for them is because of Him and Him alone and their behavior has nothing to do with His approval. He knew them and called them before the foundations of the Earth were in place, and than came to die for them because He knew they were way too weak to do it on their own.

Please understand something here - This paradigm shift in the lives of my family over the past few years has revealed the love and grace of God and of the Gospel in a new and awesome way, and has brought us freedom and liberty in a way we never imagined in our wildest dreams before. We no longer have the cart before the horse. We don’t serve to please God – we serve because we know He is already pleased. We don’t serve to secure the favor of God – we serve because the very love we receive from Him overflows from us, and it is a love that works to secure others in the hope found in Him alone because THAT is what His love does. We manipulate less (both others and ourselves) and love more naturally. We usually get better, but we don't get better because we have made it the primary focus of our Christian faith – We get better (sometimes) because we know we are loved completely in spite of ourselves, not because of our selves. We get better, precisely because we no getting better isn't even the point. We no longer have to live up to any standard, or be obsessive-compulsive about our struggles, or spend our lives trying to manage our sin, and then when we fail at that, to hide it. We can just be real, with nothing to prove. We can be the frail flawed sinners in need of a savior that God made us to be and just go out and love someone in His name. I love the way my friend Steve Brown says it – “we are just one beggar telling other beggars where we found bread.” 

Remember this, God's children, His grace is sufficient for you because if the Son shall set you free - you WILL be free indeed. Now deal with it! Amen.

How Can It Be Finished When I Know I'm Not?

One of the arguments opponents of the theology of God’s radical grace is this: If you believe that once you are saved you are always saved, or that there is nothing you can do to lose your salvation then that means you can just do anything you want and Heaven still awaits you and you are giving people a license to sin. They accuse us of believing that the law no longer matters. Instead, contrary to what one might think, what occurs when you understand this concept is the exact opposite. When the understanding of the true nature of God’s radical grace invades our spirit, the law actually becomes stricter because we can believe what the Bible actually says, rather than what we believe it means. Let me give you an example.

            In Matthew 5:27 Jesus says these strong words in the Sermon on the mount.

     27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

When we underestimate our own badness or overestimate our own goodness we lower the height of God’s perfection. We force ourselves to have to read more into the Bible than what is actually written in order to feel we are, "making the grade" and we end up trying to explain away God’s holiness by telling people that this scripture just means, “We need to do everything we can to avoid lustful thoughts or we may fall into sin.”

I think we can all agree - that is NOT what that passage says. It has been diminished so people can say and even believe, that they are living up to it.

I think that the main reason so many have this mindset today is founded in one easy-to-miss, but super-important point that is not understood by many in our churches. According to the words of Jesus here - our sin begins at its conception - not at its inception. Because of a flawed picture of ourselves and the nature of God, we are constantly striving to justify ourselves to God by what we do or don't do. When we do this, we miss the clear teaching of Jesus intended show us that the first passing thought is already sin. Let me type that slower. The first – passing – thought.      

We believe that if the sinful thought never reaches the point of costing us something, than it wasn't a sin. We say things to ourselves like, “if it just passed through my mind then God was pleased with me for being so strong." or when a hateful thought about someone else goes through our head, even with good reason, but we don’t say anything out loud – we say to ourselves - “That wasn't a sin. It was strong and Christlike of me to hold back those words.” 

Please understand - the point I am making here is while knowing when to keep your mouth shut, or to avoid a particular temptation may be good things, from looking at the words in the passage above, I don’t think Jesus would agree that there was no sin involved just because we didn't actually physically engage in the act or say the words. Sin always begins in our mind before it turns into action and according to Jesus it is a sin the moment it is conceived of. 

Now think about this with me for a second – Even if you're still mad because I told you that you are bad when you were thinking you were good all this time – stay with me. Doesn't viewing this passage, and God’s law this highly paint the life our Lord lived in a whole new, unmistakably incredibly holy light! He is lifted up. We are brought low. If we believe in anything less than a perfect, unwavering God aren't we short-changing the true majesty and beauty of our perfect Creator? If so – we are missing out on something special.

This is why it is so undeniably arrogant and silly for pastors to preach that they honestly believe they can go long periods of time without sinning, and teach others that they can too. If your pastor says that – RUN AWAY!! These false-teachers certainly don’t believe all of what Jesus said. They only believe the softened version of it that keeps them in their own good graces while God just sighs and continues to love them through it anyway – because He is love. These preachers also lead others into pride and arrogance and a self-serving faith that is much more rooted in what they do for God than what God, in Jesus, has already done for them. This view diminishes Jesus accomplishments and lifts up mans. It is the sin of foolish pride - plain and simple.

Jesus says harsh words like these in several places in the Bible only because He wants us to know that we are ALL guilty before a perfect God and there is no other option other than to run to Him and get forgiven, and get a hug. There is no other way to find peace – no other way to be free. The Gospel only becomes good news when we see it is not dependent upon us. Understanding this sets us free to just love imperfect people just like us imperfectly (downright poorly sometimes), and watch what Jesus does anyway. Remember, folks - it is finished. I didn’t say it – Jesus did - and that’s good enough for me.

For Rules or Resurrection – Why Did Jesus Come?

            There is no debate among Christians as to the validity of these statements about the Christian faith; Jesus Christ came to Earth. He lived a perfect life. He died on the cross. Three days later, He got up out of the grave and made many witnesses aware of that. All Christians know these facts are some of the fundamental tenets of our faith and on these we all seem to agree - however his primary reason for coming seems to be the subject of much debate these days.
 

            I am convinced the answer is much clearer than most make it and the Bible is clear about it too. I do not believe what many believe, whether they will say it or not – as their actions make their beliefs clear - that Jesus came to show us how to live, and in order for us to please God we must always try our hardest to live like Jesus lived.

            Frankly – this opinion is just this side of wacko. Not only is it contradictory to the clear teaching of Jesus, but it diminishes the amazing, awe-inspiring life lived (and died) by the Savior, in ways there are no words to explain, and shows an incredible pride and lack of understanding of just how bad we really are, deep down.

            Jesus came, first and foremost, to live, die, and rise again for the sole purpose of setting sinners like us free forever from the burdens of guilt and shame that we can’t escape without Him. We can’t be free until we accept the fact that we all need someone to fill in the chasm of our sin because deep down we are just not good enough to reach a holy and perfect God by ourselves. Think about this - Ours is a God who exists as pure, perfect love. Mind-blowing!

            In order for those who believe that their behavior is of primary importance to God they must first intentionally determine that the Bible, and Jesus in particular don’t always really say what they mean. For instance, take a look at just a few quotes of Jesus from Matthew 5 that are commonly softened by folks like this:

Matthew 5:48

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

....gets softened to, “just do your best.”

Or when they read -

Matthew 5:21

            “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 

...they say it means, “He’s just saying it’s bad to do all those things.”

Or this just a few verses later -

Matthew 5:27-28

            “27“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. “

This just becomes, “As long as your gaze doesn't linger and you don’t dwell on it.”

There are two things that become instantly clear to me when I read those verses –

          1) Jesus is making the inescapable point that all sins are of equal offense to God.

          2) None of us are capable of living a life without sin – no matter how "good" we think we are or how long we have been “born again”. When we believe that we can go long periods of time without sin, not only do we delude ourselves, but we call Jesus a liar and mock the majesty and holiness of our God.

            Remember - The people Jesus had the biggest problem with were the ones who worked the hardest to follow the rules – and thought they were succeeding. These are the ones we call the Pharisees and Sadducees. Martin Luther once said this, “Even our most noble thoughts and actions need to be washed in the blood of Jesus.”

            I’m going to challenge you to be honest with yourself for a minute here – When you do the kindest things you do – isn’t there always in the back of your heart or mind just a little pride at what a wonderful thing you are doing and how happy God should be to have you in His service? Or maybe a teensy weensy expectation that something good should be coming your way, as if maybe the universe now owes you one? I think if we are honest with ourselves, the answer is always yes to one degree or another.

            Now - I know this is some kind of tough stuff and may be a little different message than you are used to hearing from me – even the words of Jesus seem tough here - but the Scriptures are clear - In order to earn the right to stand in the presence of a Holy and perfect God – Jesus lays out only one requirement - Perfection

            Of course, God knew that none of us could ever live up to that perfect example, so He put into motion His incredible plan that would allow us to make a decision to love Him – and through that love cause us to grow to love others – even some of the ones who are tough to love. ;-) You want to know how He did it? He loved us first – He graciously sent Jesus to live that perfect life in our place.

            So even though, yes – it is true - Jesus’ life was the best example of how to live a human life in all of history – what He taught was intended as a gift to us – not a new set of chains.

            Think about this - When we take the rules God has given us and soften them so that we can believe we are meeting God’s requirements aren't we really doing what Jesus warns us about in this passage in that same sermon?  

 

Matthew 5:19

            “19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven."

            He didn't say all these tough things to burden us. He even tells us in Matthew 11:30 that our yoke should be easy and our burden light. No - He said these hard things to help us understand this singular point - We CANNOT live a life worthy of God’s acceptance – we can only accept the life Jesus lived in our place and live in His love, confident that He will bring it all to pass because He even overcame the cross! –
           Death itself could not contain Jesus. The fact that He got up out of that grave, and showed himself to over 500 witnesses who were willing to die to tell others about Him, proves that He can raise us from death to life as well… we need only accept the gift He offers us, and we are instantly transformed and raised from death to life, becoming friends with God - even though it still doesn't look or feel like it sometimes.

            Jesus didn’t come to show us rules to bind us up. He came to live the life we couldn’t. He came to pay our debt. He came to overcome death once and for all. Run to him and stop believing you need to prove yourself to Him. He lived and died for you. You’ll love others a lot better once you get a hug from Him, and you’ll probably even get a little better too – but only because you see that the resurrection, not the rules, are the main reason He came in the first place.