Christians Need Jesus, Too

One of the greatest challenges for those of us that call ourselves followers of the Nazarene carpenter is that we often forget that we, too, still need Jesus. We can easily fall into the trap that after we place our faith in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins that it's up to us to live out the Christian life. But since we are still sinners, we all need Jesus each day to live the kind of lives He would want for us.

A favorite writer of mine, John Fischer, touched on this topic today in his column, Catch of the Day. You can read the whole article here, but here's a highlight:

"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."

Although it is often used in evangelistic conversations, Revelation 3:20 was actually written to those that were already believers in Christ. But they had grown so lukewarm in their faith that they didn't feel like they needed anything, including Jesus. So when he says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me," I think it applies to all of us. Whether we are initially establishing that relationship with Him or have known Him for decades, we all still need Jesus.