When we worship a Jesus of our own making – taking the parts about Jesus that resonate with us and leaving behind the parts that are hard for us to swallow or flat out confusing – not only is that idol worship but we’re missing out on the real person of Jesus and the relationship of intimacy we were created for with Him.

Rick Lawrence, Executive Director of Vibrant Faith and author of Editing Jesus: Confronting the Distorted Faith of the American Church says the driving force propelling the church into irrelevance is it’s propensity to reduce Jesus. When we discover and return to the unedited Jesus, it’s impossible to remain unchanged.

Then, some think faith means the ability to move mountains and do greater works than Jesus himself, others think it’s faithful endurance through long seasons of hardship. But it’s not either/or, it’s both/and!