While in a Christian book store recently, looking over a table with various books scattered and piled on top of it, with a sign saying the books had been greatly reduced, one particular book caught my eye. I picked it up and noticed it had been reduced from $15 to only $3. Since it had a recent publishing date, I figured it must either be poorly written, or impractical to be reduced that much so quickly. Reading a few sentences on several pages, it seemed the book was very well written; I also did not see anything unscriptural or impractical in the book. I decided the book did not sell because of its title: “Jesus, Mean and Wild.”
People see the title and they don’t even want to think of God or Christ in such a way. In fact, we all would like to think of God as having infinite patience and tolerance with our sinful life-style. “God should be infinitely tolerant of my pet-sins” — “God should be infinitely patience and tolerant while I live my life the way I want to!” — “God should be infinitely loving even though I worship only whenever I want to, and however I want to!” What such an attitude exhibits is this: (1) Us creating God in our image, rather than the other way around. (2) Us commanding God, which is impossible — Romans 9:20. And, (3) Us setting ourselves up in the temple of God (our hearts), as God, which is a sign of the coming “son of destruction” (2Thessalonians 2:4).
The Bible does tell us that, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy” (Psalm 103:8). But it also says in the very next verse, “God will NOT always strive with us, nor will He withhold His anger forever.” Does anyone really think they can ignore God, ignore Jesus, or ignore the blood-bought Body of Christ (the church), and still have favor with God on Judgment Day? How could Jesus possibly say to such a person, “Well done thou good and faithful servant?” (Matthew 25:21).
In Mark 9:19, Jesus said to a multitude, “You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put-up with you?!” That’s not exactly a side of Jesus that we like to think about, is it.
Many cannot handle the often depicted angry and vindictive God of the Old Testament; the God who is described as a “consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 9:3); the God who flooded the earth, and later incinerated Sodom-Gomorrah. They cannot connect the “meek and lowly Jesus, who “loves all the little children of the world,” to the God of the Old Testament. But what happens when we learn that “The Father of the Old Testament” and the “Son of the New Testament are One? (John 10:30). What do we do with the spiritual truth that the Father and the Son are in perfect unity? (John 17:21). And, what do people do when they learn that the Son is subject to the Father? (1Corinthians 15:27-28). Paul tells us what they do: “They suppress the Truth” (Romans 1:18), to their own destruction. Such an attitude leaves us with an incomplete picture of Jesus, thinking He loves us so much that He will let us live our sinful, irreverent lives, and save us anyway. But is that what the Bible is teaching? Or, is that what the majority of pulpits are teaching?
Toby Miller