Today's Catch of the Day

Christians who need Jesus
by John Fischer

We all need Jesus, but the assumption quite often in certain circles is that the people who need Him are those who aren't Christians. When we say so and so needs Jesus we usually mean that so and so is not a Christian. This is unfortunate because, as I said, we all need Jesus. Somehow I think we have gotten the idea that those who have Jesus don't need Him anymore. That simply is not true.

In fact this last weekend, speaking in the Bible belt, where just about everyone would say he or she is a Christian, I said, "There are Christians in this town who desperately need Jesus." And by that I meant that there were Christians without Jesus. Is that possible? Of course it is. I was a Christian without Jesus for some time.

A Christian without Jesus is a person who believes in Christian morals, who grew up in a Christian home, who goes to church and serves on committees or sings in the choir, who believes certain doctrines that are required by his particular brand of Christianity, who desires a Christian environment so her children will be safe, who listens to Christian music and Christian teaching, or who passionately votes "Christian" as identified by the prevailing Christian spokespeople. All these things can be possible without Jesus.

Knowing you need Jesus is a whole other thing. You know you need Jesus because you have seen yourself and you are appalled at the awfulness of your sin. You know you need Jesus because you can't take another step without hurting someone. You know you need Jesus because you very clearly realize that in yourself, that is in your flesh, dwells no good thing. You know you need Jesus because you are such a good liar that you can fool yourself half the time and not even know it.

A Christian who is inclined to think that other people need Jesus is one who may need Him the most.

Everybody needs Jesus. Not everybody knows it. Some Christians know they need Jesus. Some Christians don't. So bottom line is: knowing you need Jesus is a lot more important than being a good Christian.