“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and and left untried.” (G.K. Chesterton)

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter...” (Jesus)

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
(Mohandas Gandhi)

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (Jesus)

Thomas Jefferson was patriot, president, writer, inventor, more honest than most of us. In addition to all these things he accomplished in his life, he also compiled “The Jefferson Bible” from which he deleted the parts that presented difficulties to him. In a midnight moment of clarity, I, too, would admit that sections of scripture challenge me deeply. But as an avowed Bible-believing follower of Jesus, I cannot cut passages out of the Bible—at least literally. But what can I do with statements that are unimaginable, unobtainable, and undeniably integral to the teachings of Christ? He won't forgive me if I don't forgive others. Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the Kingdom of God. If I would come after Him I must deny himself. Love my neighbor as I love myself. Lose my life to gain it, keep hold of it and lose it. Show my love for Christ through obedience. If I don't embrace these truths, I must ignore, bypass, explain away, or bury them in my theology. I fear that Jesus would have sought out an honest heretic and passed by a hypocrite when He walked the shores of Galilee and that He does the same now.

What would happen if we stopped going to church and became the Church? How would it be different if we stopped saying, “Lord, Lord,” and gave ourselves to knowing what Jesus said and then to understanding and obeying? What would those around us say if our love for one another was no longer just words but a self sacrificial lifestyle? What if we saw our mission not as enjoying forgiveness, but giving it? How would the kingdom of darkness respond if our first priority was the Kingdom of God instead of possessions, security, comfort, and recognition?

The early believers were wildly successful in drawing others to Jesus because following Christ was not an option, it was the only life they could image. For them, Chesterton could not say it was found difficult and let untried. They abandoned themselves to the promises, premises, and provisions of Jesus and found Him faithful. And He has not changed.

I have my own personalized version of the Jefferson Bible, much shortened by ignoring and ignorance. I want to put those difficult passages back in. I would rather try obedience and fail than think it too difficult to attempt. And He did say, “I will never fail you nor forsake you.”

If our faith is real, if Jesus is real, then let us pursue with abandon all that we profess.