I remember sitting in a restaurant close to Messiah College (now Messiah University) quite a few years ago. I happened to overhear a conversation between two people in a booth close to me. From what I could gather at least one of them was a professor at Messiah and she was mentioning that students in general think of God mostly in relational terms - Jesus being their friend. From what I gathered this was of some concern. I don’t recall exactly how it was put, but the point was that they were not embracing the power of God in the way they should.
I totally agree that there needs to be a healthy balance between the two. However, over the past month or so the importance of the closeness of Jesus has been important to me. In times of doubt I focus on the fact that if I would leave my faith behind I would be leaving my personal relationship with Jesus behind. I don’t want to lose Him, He is my friend and much more.
I thought of this just last week when I read an article about one of the original members of the contemporary Christian music group DC Talk, Kevin Max. He has declared himself to be an exvangelical. This term is kind of broad and can mean anything from someone walking away and denying their faith in Christ, to just leaving a conservative approach toward life behind. For Max he would not say that he has totally left his faith behind, but
that he believes in the Universal Christ, which is a false non-biblical understanding that Christ is a spirit that dwells in all people and Jesus was a great example of this. You can read more about Kevin Max at https://www.christianpost.com/news/dc-talks-kevin-max-reveals-hes-an-exvangelical.html. You can also learn more about the Universal Christ at https://cac.org/another-name-for-every-thing-the-universal-christ/.
If we no longer believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, then I believe we are walking away from a personal relationship with Christ and that is a great loss. I need that personal relationship for strength and wisdom in doing life, even just the simplest routines. I need to feel and experience
His love to remind me of my worth. I need to communicate with Him no matter what the situation. I need Jesus and I’m pretty sure Kevin Max and anyone else who is walking away from Him does too.
It appears that often people are turning their backs on Jesus Christ because they feel the need to reject organized expressions of faith like Evangelicalism. If you read the article on Max you will get a glimpse of that. I know there are many who feel hurt by what they consider organized religion, I agree that often churches reflect man more than they do Christ, but people must be encouraged to not walk away from Christ.
I need Jesus and so do you!
