I’m a bit ashamed to say this, but in my high-school years I went door-to-door selling pictures of Jesus. Big prints, glossy and bright, two by three feet in size. I sold them for a margin of what they would have gone for in a decorating store or Christian bookshop. I bought them cheap from an uncle of mine, a professional door-to-door salesman, then peddled Jesus from house to house for a bargain.
I carried a nice selection of Jesuses; some that appealed to Catholics as well as those the Protestants preferred. I didn’t think about why people would fork out hard-earned money for a big, unframed picture of Jesus, but looking back, I think I understand now. Hanging Jesus on the wall and having Him close by was a good deal. It didn’t cost much, and He was there when you needed Him.
I carried enough prints of Jesus to fit everybody’s preconceived ideas of what He was like. Do you need a meek and mild Jesus? Just happen to have Him. Jesus carrying a lamb? I have Him, too.
In the same way, we carry with us our mental pictures of Jesus. He is normally a cuddly, gentle, loving, and forgiving Jesus, there to help us in time of trouble. There are of course aspects of truth in those images of Jesus. But there is one huge problem with them: Far too often He is just too sweet and far too powerless.
I want you to reconsider Jesus. If necessary, trade in your mental pictures of Jesus for the real person. I’m not asking you to deny what Jesus has done for you in the past, but I am asking you not to limit Him. Consider the possibility that you have some wrong ideas about Him. No picture of Jesus on the wall of our home, and no mental picture of Jesus hanging on the walls of our heart, can fully represent Him. The danger with pictures is that we create them. They sometimes end up being images of ourselves that we project onto God.
McClung, Floyd. Follow: A Simple and Profound Call to Live like Jesus. Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook, 2010. Print.