GOD IS NOT YOUR TALISMAN
(4-minute read)
When threatened or faced with uncertainties, humans intuitively and subconsciously lean on something or someone for security in very subtle ways. Parents often offer their children security blankets to provide them a sense of comfort in times of stress, emotional distress, and anxiety. Many adults keep similar objects for luck and for protection against danger, diseases and harm. However, anything whose presence exerts a powerful effect on our emotions or actions becomes a talisman that replaces God. Some of these items even bear an assortment of Christ’s image although nobody really knows what Jesus looked like.
How do we turn Jesus into a talisman? When the framed image of Jesus above our main door is more for our own security than it is a sign of our faithfulness to God. When we keep figurines of Jesus on our desk to stave off evil and bad luck. When we think Jesus car decals are indispensable for road safety. And also when we misuse Scripture verses like John 14:13-14 to ‘name and claim’ whatever we fancy!
Let’s dispel common misconceptions and inventions about who Jesus is:
Jesus is NOT a god of many gods.
Jesus is NOT a god for us to shape into any persona.
Jesus is NOT our super-hero.
Jesus is NOT our cosmic bell-hop.
Jesus is NOT our ATM machine.
God explicitly warned us about the human inclination to reinvent Him. Without ambiguity, He made this clear about Himself. “‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God’” (Exodus 20:2-5).
Often dismissed as outdated warnings, these are important boundaries for our relationship with God all the days of our lives.
Who is Jesus to you today? Jesus Himself said in ten words, “‘I am the way and the truth and the life.’” (John 14:6). Let’s flesh out the meaning of these ten words:
“I am”
We can be sure that Jesus is who He says He is. You will not find Him revealing Himself to you on ChatGPT or Google search engine. ‘I am’ means He always has been who He is and always will be; not sometimes or contingent upon circumstances or who He is around. One time, during a particularly intense exchange with some Jewish believers, the Lord asserted, “Very truly I tell you… before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58).
“The Way”
If Jesus is not always the way and the only way for us, we make Him optional and dispensable. As The Way, He told His disciples, ‘Come, follow Me’ (Matthew 4:19). Later, Peter echoed this truth saying, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12). Jesus is not offering us a way out, a way in or a way through; but He is offering Himself as the Way.
Do you feel that you have been forced to relinquish a life that you once had, yet you are not ready to step back, step away and step down from that place but you don’t know where to go? Go to the Way and He will show you.
“The Truth”
In this age of deep fakes, there is a blurring between what is real and what is fake, and there is a deep distrust of information as people engage in endless debates about what is true. But believers need to ask a different question about who is the Truth. Jesus knows all truths because He is the Truth. “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32). Jesus personifies the Truth that sets us free from grandiose ideas and battered images of ourselves, and right-size our self-perception and our interpretation of reality. He does not have different versions of Truth; He is all Truth - the parts we like and the parts we cover up with pretenses.
Numbers 23:19 tells us, “God is not human, that He should lie, not a human being, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?”
In a world that trivializes lies, corruption and deception, Jesus is the only Truth.
“The Life”
Jesus does not offer us life: He offers Himself as the Life. While it was easier for His disciples to believe it when He said He was the Way and the Truth, it was not easy to accept that He was also the Life when He had just told them about His impending death. His message was highly conflicting to say the least!
Yet He called Himself ‘the Life’, and assured His disciples, “Before long, the world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live.” (John 14:19).
If you want to have a life of purpose and hope, you need to have a deep intimate relationship with the Way, the Truth and the Life. Don’t make Jesus your talisman.
This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 6 July 2024.
