Living Without Jesus

-Bill Petite

People every day leave their homes and travel to work, school or wherever they go without giving a thought about Jesus. These people for the most part are not Christians and really don't want Jesus intruding into their lives. For Christians, living without Jesus is like putting on a blindfold every morning while traveling to your destination. Those who are not Christians really don't know any better. They have never taken Jesus serious enough  to include Him in their lives as Lord and savior. There can be many different reasons for this but the fact is they are wandering aimlessly through this life and their final destination is not a pleasant ending. Of course, those who are Atheist will tell us they don't believe that a God exists and therefore they don't need a fairy tale cluttering up their lifestyle. If that is truly what they believe, then I have to respect their decision; I don't agree and have a concern for their spiritual well being but if they refuse to consider who Jesus really is, I can't force them to believe. That is not my place; only Jesus can reach them and change their heart. But, if a person calls themselves an Atheist and becomes a critic of Jesus/God, then I would question their claim of Atheism. If an Atheist is a true Atheist, why would he/she be critical of a god who does not exist. It would be the same as being critical of the non-existent monster in the child's closet. These people are usually looking for a fight with the Christian faith. For whatever reason, they believe they have an axe to grind with Christians. Remember, defending the faith is not an argument, it is a conversation with a non-believer. It is providing the person with truths to consider concerning Jesus. We should do nothing else but give these people information to consider and reason with. We don't return the arrogant comment with another arrogant comment. If the person we are talking to is in attack mode from the start, we give them the information to consider and move on. Jesus tells us not to cast our pearls before the swine (Mt 7:6). They have decided to live this life without Jesus; the seeds have been planted and now we pray that the Lord will send a cultivator and then a harvester.

Christians don't really live their lives without Jesus, they just sometimes forget He is there and they fail to include Him or consider Him in their lives. They bumble along until they hit an obstacle and then remember Jesus. Or, they hit that obstacle and begin to try and figure a way over or around it and after exhausting their attempts, then they go to Jesus. We all have been there and hopefully have learned from it. But, for the Christian who insists on going it alone, there are some serious faith issues here. This is probably as close to living without Jesus as a Christian can get. Actually, a Christian cannot totally live without Jesus. When we are saved, truly saved, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us. He is always with us. Regardless of how we recognize that, He is there. So, Christians don't really live their lives without Jesus, they simply fail to acknowledge His presence sometimes. We all have those times when we want to do things our way and when the Spirit taps us on the shoulder to remind us of our ignorance in the situation, we ignore Him. This is where we Christians get into trouble. 
Think about it in terms of warfare because that is actually what it is; it is spiritual warfare and we are in the battle everyday.

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.  For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.  Eph 6:10-12  NLT

 This should be easy for most people to understand in our current time. With the involvement of 2 wars for over 10 years, it is what people are most aware of in their world view. Everyone has become a so called expert in warfare. So, with that in mind, why would it be so hard to understand that we, as Christians, are at war with our enemy, Satan, every minute of every day? I was in Viet Nam as a Marine infantryman (giving away my age). There was no way I was going beyond the lines of our perimeter without a weapon. That was down right stupid and ignorant! I was well aware of every tool of warfare available to me and I would use every one of them if I had to. There is no talk of heroes on the battlefield. That is for the media and those on the sidelines to discuss. It is the same with our Christian lives. If you ignore the fact that Christianity is at war with the enemy, you will suffer for your ignorance. Christianity is not all peaches and cream. It is an on going battle and we have all the weapons afforded to us for use against the enemy. But, we can't fight the fight on own, we must depend on Jesus to lead the way. Living without Jesus is dumb! A Christian who ignores the presence of the Holy Spirit is dumb! Consider what Paul says to the Colossians,

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.  For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.  Col 3:1-3  NLT

This is where most Christians get into trouble; they are more concerned with the things of this life instead of the things of heaven or the Christian life with Jesus. Jesus told His disciples in the sermon on the mount to seek His kingdom first and all the things they would worry about would be provided (Mt 6:33). We all need to fix our eyes more on Jesus and let our lust for the things of this world fade away. As a Christian, living without Jesus is not an option and why would you want to?!

Christians should all know and understand the seriousness of living without Jesus. Christians need to know how to get that message to the non-believing world. Dying without knowing Jesus brings eternal suffering; suffering I don't know how to describe. Jesus tells us there will be everlasting punishment, weeping and gnashing of teeth. This describes eternal torment, a torment beyond our capabilities to understand. We need to be ambassadors of Jesus to the unsaved world. We can't force people to accept Jesus as their savior but we certainly can deliver the message. Don't be a closet Christian, afraid of telling the world about Him. God will open the door for us to tell someone about Jesus; we simply need to be obedient in delivering the message. Tell someone today and tell them the dangers of living without Jesus.