Just Jesus

This is not about Christianity or religion; this is just about my personal experience and what happened to me that changed my life.  I am not interested in theological debate, or argument over church dogma.  I am not into churches, just Jesus.

I grew up in a strict religion, one which followed rules which were said to set us apart from others as God’s chosen people.  The Sabbath was kept as Saturday and we observed the Old Testament Jewish festivals and food laws, while believing in the resurrection of Jesus.

As a Teenager I met people from other churches who seemed to really love God, and I began to wonder why I would be saved when their heartfelt devotion was obviously more than mine but they weren’t keeping the right rules.  I decided that the church I was in was full of baloney and left.

After that I firmly believed that whether there was a God or not no-one could possibly say that they had it right.  There were so many different churches that all had their own traditions so who knew what was right or wrong.  I lived my own wild life and tried not to think about whether God existed.  I had been so doctrinally entrenched in my childhood that the thought of believing in God came with an idea that it meant following all those rules again which I just abhorred and couldn’t see the sense of.

It was a time in my life when I thought I was happy, married with a child and a successful career that I had an experience much like Paul’s when he was on the road to Damascus.  Many could dismiss what I am about to explain as being my imagination, however the way it changed my life I would respectfully say as an intelligent human being shows it was not.

I was walking my dog along a dirt track thinking about not much in particular when God spoke to my heart.  He said I am real, Jesus was a real person who really died on a cross for your sins and that it was all about Love.  At that moment knowledge was infused into my soul like cream filling into the centre of a cream bun.  I could see in my minds eye all the different churches with their traditions and how God didn’t care about those things.  They were insignificant.  It was a person’s heart that he cared about. 

God told me that the bible needed to be looked at in historical context, and that when this was done correctly it could be interpreted in line with this freedom I felt.  It was not about rules, but about loving God and loving others.  Loving relationships.  It was that simple.

I felt so free.  I had eternity in my heart and it was all very very real, rather than the cameo world of religion that churches had made it.  Jesus loved me, died for me and was there for me.

So from then on I started reading my bible and growing in my relationship with Jesus.  Not my relationship with any church or any church leader.  I love him, and he loves me.

Just Jesus.