Jesus

I saw that a neighborhood in Longview, Texas was causing a battle of the enlightened on Facebook today.  A picture showing a red and white yard sign that simply read "Jesus" was the topic of a post by a local news station.  The post suggested that this particular neighborhood was protesting the construction of a Mosque by placing the Jesus signs in their yards.

This may or may not have been the intentions of the sign bearers.  Some may just be so excited about God that they planted a sign in their yard.

Opinions began to fly.  And armchair theologians along with well-meaning atheists fired up their keyboards to chime in their profound sentiments.  I read them all and then looked again at the photo.  "Jesus."

Sign posted in a yard in Longview, Texas

Many of the posts made the comments about Jesus' tolerance toward other religions and the worship of others and how mean Christians are by doing something as brazen as putting a Jesus sign in their yard.  It made me wonder what they were basing this opinion on.

"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.  No one can come to the Father except through Me," Jesus.  Does that sound like religious tolerance? (John 14:6)

"You shall have no other gods before Me..." again, not very tolerant. (Exodus 20:3)

"I AM."  Not Allah, not your TV, not your boyfriend -- "I AM," God.  (Exodus 3:14)

"Worship the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind..."  (Matthew 22:37)

"I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End..."  There is no other name by which we can be saved.  (Rev. 22:13)

Our sin state leaves us in such a dire way that nothing and no one can help us.  It is only by the way of a perfect sacrifice that provision for salvation can be made.  Jesus the Christ is the only one who is capable to provide that sacrifice, to pay that price.  He did for us what we could not do for ourselves.  He is intolerant of false religions because He knows they cannot provide the cost of our salvation.  He loves us and does not want us to be mislead.

His intolerance is formed out of a desperate love for us to know and accept the truth--not from hate.  And as believers and followers of Christ we must do the same.  There is a right way to show our love through intolerance.   I think displaying a Jesus sign in your yard is an amazing way to promote truth.  If people see that as a protest of a false religion--okay.

There is power in the name of Jesus.  The name alone can break one man's heart and incite anger in another, a fact that is clearly displayed on the news stations post.

A sign in someone's yard with simply the name "Jesus" on it is probably one of the most loving things they could say to me or to anyone.  The fact that so many people or offended by just the name posted in a yard makes me see how far we have fallen.  We are not becoming more enlightened, because we know that Jesus is the light of the world.  We are drifting into a darker mindset and most of us do not even realize it.

No matter how the Jesus signs make you react, one thing is certain, there will be a day when we all agree on who Jesus really is.