Crossroads At the Day of Bapticost

by Jesse Steele

it—no matter how much they say they love You—are really just sad inside.

  Jesus: They only want to survive, not Thrive.

  Alexander: How do we Thrive?

  Jesus: I AM the Light and Life. If you want to understand the darkness without overcoming it, my Word will have no answer for you.

  Alexander: So, I may never understand why people don’t love Your Life and only want to have their “bills” paid.

  Jesus: They don’t understand you either.

  Alexander: How does that work?

  Jesus: Do you like cheeseburgers?

  Alexander: They are so good! Why wouldn’t I?

  Jesus: Is there any reason or logic in “liking” something?

  Alexander: You know, Data from Star Trek never understood “liking” stuff.

  Jesus: I didn’t invent Star Trek. Gene Rodenberry came up with it on his own.

  Alexander: Data never understood emotions. It’s because he wasn’t human.

  Jesus: Emotions are of the “spiritual realm.” You don’t “understand” emotions—you “have” them.

  Alexander: So, people who try to parse every little detail and pull-out their charts and graphs about which things You will and will not forgive and about what the point is where someone has so much sin that they aren’t a Christian…

  Jesus: Does the ocean have a boundary?

  Alexander: Well, the “coastline” is a boundary, I suppose.

  Jesus: But where is that line?

  Alexander: Where the water meets the shore.

  Jesus: But that line changes with each wave. Ever take a walk on a beach?

  Alexander: Yes. I love sunsets, classical music, flowers, chocolates, and long walks on the beach.

  Jesus: You’d better love those things or you will never have any children.

  Alexander: But what’s the beach got to do with the line between sin and holiness?

  Jesus: The ocean is like my Holiness. It is so big that even its boundary is thick. There is a point where you are clearly in the ocean or clearly on land, but if you try to define the difference too much, you will think that the exact boundary changes with every wave that breaks on the beach and comes and goes with the tide.

  Alexander: Are You saying that Your commands change?

  Jesus: Never, just like a coastline doesn’t change. But my Holiness is so large and vast that the “boundary line” is literally bigger than you are. You may think the sand is a good place to build a house while the tide is out, but even at low tide, the beach is still part of the thick boundary between land and sea.

  Alexander: Okay, I understand. The tide goes in and out, waves break from a few feet to several yards, and I’m only six feet tall…

  Jesus: Five-foot eleven.

  Alexander: Same thing!

  Jesus: Now you get it.

  Alexander: Huh?

  Jesus: You can measure either in inches or in feet.

  Alexander: So, maybe You don’t want us measuring the line of sin and Holiness in terms of millimeters, but in terms of yards. Is that it?

  Jesus: If someone tries to put a house or boat as close to the coastline as they can, that person is confused. They really don’t understand houses, boats, land, sea, or coastlines.

  Alexander: Sail a boat too close to the cost and it may crash or run aground. A house on the beach could get washed-over and destroyed.

  Jesus: There’s plenty of ocean and plenty of land. You don’t need to press your luck with the coastline. People who are interested in micro-differences between my Holiness and their sin don’t even know what they want out of Life.

  Alexander: So, we should assume that the line is as far from sin as possible?

  Jesus: No, you are still thinking in terms of where the exact line is.

  Alexander: My Sunday school teacher once told us that, even though You didn’t forbid us to drink alcohol, it’s better to be more conservative.

  Jesus: Are my commands perfect?

  Alexander: Yes.

  Jesus: Can you improve on perfection?

  Alexander: No.

  Jesus: If you are “more conservative” than perfection, aren’t you departing from my perfect Word?

  Alexander: I suppose, but… what a leader does conservatively the masses will do liberally.

  Jesus: You mean if a leader tries to improve on my commands just a little that the masses will try to improve on my commands a whole bunch and get legalistic and make other rules I never gave?

  Alexander: I was thinking that if the leader drinks a little alcohol that the people will drink a lot.

  Jesus: Do I hold people responsible for their own choices or do I hold their pastor responsible for their choices?

  Alexander: You hold the people responsible, but the pastor is a leader. He has extra responsibility. People follow his example.

  Jesus: That’s why he has extra responsibility not to draw the “line” where I didn’t. Do not stray to the right or to the left, but follow my commands as I gave them. Any more than that is evil and has no power against sinful desires. I don’t need an editor.

  Alexander: But alcoholism is a problem for many Christians.

  Jesus: Redrawing, over-specifying, or otherwise “improving” my perfect lines won’t help them. Alcohol is only enticing to people who haven’t tasted my Holiness… or who don’t want to.

  Alexander: Maybe I haven’t reached the high and lofty spiritual attainment where sin seems boring, but I can see why alcohol could pull people away from You.

  Jesus: It isn’t “high and lofty attainment,” it’s a matter of tasting and seeing that I AM Good. But a pastor who constantly reminds his people not to drink alcohol isn’t reminding them enough about his Fascination with my Holiness. And you know what that means?

  Alexander: What?

  Jesus: He himself probably isn’t fascinated by my Holiness.

  Alexander: So, then, he’s a bad pastor?

  Jesus: Not necessarily. I’d like to think of him as a growing pastor. I invite him to fall in love with my Holiness more and more. That will give him “contagious strength.” He’ll spread my Lifestyle without trying so much.

  Alexander: By “Holiness” You mean that we should strive to live sinless lives?

  Jesus: No, I mean that I AM sinless. Become fascinated with my own perfection and beauty, not with trying to attain it yourself, because you can’t attain perfection in your current body. I didn’t call you to be “fully” perfect in a sinful body. I called you to obey me. To do that, you must love my Holiness, then my commands will become a natural desire. That is “Fascination with Holiness.”

  Alexander: But it still bothers me that You left “gray areas” in the Bible. I want clarity on those.

  Jesus: My Bible is eternal-all-truth for every person. I leave some lines gray because of individual callings I place on each person’s life. You need to know my Bible for what it says. My Spirit knows you in your daily time with me. Don’t bring clarity in the gray areas for others. You are not my Holy Spirit.

  Alexander: So, how do we know all of this stuff for sure?

  Jesus: Fall in love with my Holiness and you will recognize it. Don’t buy into the delusion that you can follow guidelines apart from a relationship with my Spirit. Don’t try to make yourself independent of me. I love you and I AM Powerful to lead you.

  Alexander: I am a little concerned that people may get carried away in trying to follow Your leading. Isn’t it good to clarify some stuff even though it isn’t in Your Word?

  Jesus: You must be comfortable with my Spirit having full reign in your life, otherwise you aren’t limiting Him, you are limiting yourself from the Life He leads you into. If I didn’t give a written Word on it, don’t you forbid it, even if it makes you nervous.

  Alexander: Free reign in my life… Yeah, I don’t just want to walk with You. I want to run with You!

  Jesus: If you try to keep a leash on me you’re only tying yourself down. The Lion of Judah must have free reign in your life
if you want to run with me in my Life.

  Alexander: How do I know what to allow?

  Jesus: …what to allow me or what to allow yourself?

  Alexander: I get it. So, Bible for whatever Bible addresses and Your Spirit is unleashed for daily Living and Thriving. I need to think more about Your Grace.

  Jesus: Not just my Grace, but my Justice, my Mercy… you must think about all of it to be transformed by any of it. Think about my Holiness.

  Alexander: So it isn’t about charts and graphs of God’s “boundaries” of forgiveness and so forth. We need to make You our Lord.

  Jesus: I AM already your Lord. I AM everyone’s Lord.

  Alexander: But I call You, “Lord.”

  Jesus: Many people call me, “Lord,” but many of them don’t know me.

  Alexander: But, Lord, aren’t You the Lord?

  Jesus: Yes, but calling me “Lord” isn’t what makes the difference. You might use the word “King” because a Lord is merely someone you obey. A King is someone you obey, but also love deeply and personally.

  Alexander: Calling You, “Lord” is okay, but the difference is that You are also my “King.” That word includes obedience and love together… I get it.

  Jesus: Yeah. When you love someone, you don’t try to over-explain that love.

  Alexander: How so?

  Jesus: If you tried to logically explain the reason behind why someone would want to eat a cheeseburger with you, do you think they would want to talk to you for very long?

  Alexander: They would probably call me a “geek” who has no friends.

  Jesus: You were the one who mentioned Star Trek.

  Alexander: That was because I thought of Data.

  Jesus: Geek alert.

  Alexander: Red Alert! I don’t have to explain why I like Star Trek.

  Jesus: I wouldn’t understand if you did.

  Alexander: I like