No bobble headed Jesus for me please... I need the real deal.. Even when it means, especially when it means ... Denying myself and following Him

That question has haunted me the last few days... Will He find faith upon the earth?

The industry of Christianity is ablaze...

I spent a good portion of Sunday morning reading about John the Baptist and the ministry of Jesus as He walked upon the earth...

Words that were used.. "repent," "follow me," John the Baptist talking about decreasing so that Jesus could increase...

The mechanism and wheel of the industry of Christianity runs rampant... It is an impending tsunami about to decimate the multitudes...

These days have me getting small, watching every idle word, trying to embrace a silence and solitude as to think upon Him.. To really think upon Him... Oh my goodness.. to behold Him... as He is not as He could be marketed to the masses.. The masses fell away and one week those same masses are shouting out praises and the next they are screaming crucify....

Beyond plagiarism scandals and entitlement tantrums (let's not mess with Joel O), and the list could go on and on.. I need to silence the Christian world and move away from it's dramas... And reengage with the baby in the manger and the man upon the cross... The man who would shutter and cleanse many a temple.. and I see the pole in my own eye.. It starts with me...

It starts with me acknowledging and being willing to hear the call to repentance... The call to decrease that He would increase within me....

I fell in love with Jesus once upon a time... I fell in love with Him because He speaks things like, "I tell you the truth.." He speaks things like, "neither do I condemn you .. go and sin NO more."  "In me you have life..."  

When I didn't know Him.. when I didn't know the way.. When I didn't and couldn't find the path, He lead me and He leads me and the truth of the gospel is that it doesn't have to be marketed.. we don't need bobble headed Jesus.. WE NEED JESUS...  

I need to silence the noise that would swirl.. I need to still the meetings that would steal, I need to step back and step up and look up and lay down anything and everything that would hinder..

Because when He returns I want to know that my Lord will find faith upon the earth... A faith that is resolute and true.. A faith that stands and does not shrink back, a faith that permeates... a faith that is real and powerful and strong....

I fell in love with Jesus because He is who He is and I fall in love with Jesus because He has no shadow of changing.. He is that He was that He will be.... He is magnificent... He is that which will change the world...

There is so much noise and so much clamor... and so I go back to the baby in the manger or the man upon the cross and I silence the voices except the angels singing, I silence the ambition and behold the baby... I stand in awe of a God, who would not consider equality with God something to be grasped but laid His life down as a servant and bled and died for all...

It is a return to simple.. It is a return to sitting by the feeding trough.. it is a return to sitting at the foot of the cross... kneeling upon hay, kneeling upon dirt.... Returning.. time and time and time again..

To see Him as He was willing to be so that we could know Him... I sit silently and alone that I would be found in Him as He is the most magnificent One I have ever known...