YOU MAY BE THE ONLY JESUS

From an email I just received from our sister Nancy. Breathtaking! Magnificent! The entire story of Jesus - what He died to give the world:

"You May Be the Only Jesus
Somebody Knows"

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
—Galatians 2:20

There was a soldier who was wounded in battle. The padre crept out and did what he could for him. He stayed with him when the remainder of the troops retreated. In the heat of the day he gave him water from his own water bottle, while he himself remained parched with thirst. In the night, when the chill frost came down, he covered the wounded man with his own coat, and finally wrapped him up in even more of his own clothes to save him from the cold. In the end the wounded man looked up at the padre. "Padre," he said, "You're a Christian?"

"I try to be," said the padre.

"Then," said the wounded man "if Christianity makes a man do for another man what you have done for me, tell me about it, because I want it." *

You are the only Jesus somebody knows. Christ [HUMANITY / God (or what we can know of God)] lives in you and will use you to help heal this hurting world if you'll let Him. The priest was willing to become uncomfortable for the sake of a dying man. Sometimes I don't feel like going out of my way to reach out to someone and sometimes I close the door. There are other times when I realize that I represent Jesus to the world around me and that I touch someone not with my love but with His love. [WRONG: God's Love, HUMANITY (all that we can know of God) is what Jesus surrendered to, and what he Led US to surrender to.] And it makes a difference in their life and mine.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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ps: "I TRY to be...." I despise it when I am asked "Are you a Christian?" Why do I despise it? In large part because it largely implies - have you joined the "club!" Well, in Jesus' eyes, if there IS some valid category of "Christian" it has absolutely NOTHING to do with self declaration or joining-a-club. It would ENTIRELY have to do with Being. The "Padre's" answer above captures this. Nancy, thanks for this answer I can use in the future when the hideous question is asked of me, "Are you a Christian?" " I TRY to be."