"Jesus is all you need!" (Yeah, right!)

I remember hearing, just when my life was about to unravel, “You never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.”

Oh man, that ticked me off! It ticked me off because by this time I had at least figured out these Christian tag-lines didn’t make any sense until you have experienced it yourself. So my first and immediate emergency-response prayer was, “Oh, God, do NOT let me have to learn that lesson first-hand!”

This blog series is a result of me learning that lesson first hand.

This blog will not be filled with regurgitated pat-answers, ineffective platitudes or meaningless slogans. I will not give you a mirage and call it an oasis. I will not use smoke and mirrors to create an illusion then try to pass it off as reality.

This blog will contain The Real Thing. And I don't mean Coke!

This blog will offer the Truth. I pray it will be – a real and present help in times of trouble. I will share with you some solid answers I have discovered to some of life’s toughest questions.

I won’t just say, “Jesus is the answer.” I will show you how Jesus is the sufficiency to your most difficult questions, the fulfillment of your deepest, most intimate needs, and the ultimate hope in the midst of your most desperate hour.

* * * * *

I pray you will make a commitment to join me for the journey, dear Reader!

If God IS All-Powerful, then Why...

I had a hunch that since God was the Creator of the universe and everything in it, He should be able to fix my life. Or at least help me.

Thus I started asking questions. I didn’t think they were hard questions, but maybe they were:

“If God chooses our lineage, then why did I end up in a family where I was labelled 'the accident'?”

“If Jesus came to give me abundant life, then why did my business fail?”

“If God is strong enough to protect me, then why has he allowed me to be hurt?”

“If God’s designed marriage, then why is mine falling apart?”

The more I asked, the more it became clear to me that there either were no answers, or nobody knew what they were.

I was on the brink of throwing Christianity away. After all, it seemed pretty useless. I was tired of hearing useless tag-lines (see my last blog) recited by well-meaning but ill-equipped believers who – when all was said and done – seemed to not comprehend any of the truth they were parroting.

As Shakespeare would say, “There’s the rub.” The problem is that there was truth buried in those Christian one-liners. And I instinctively knew it. BUT, I also knew that I couldn’t see it.

I remember in the 80’s when those 3-D optical illusion pictures first became popular. I was among a group of people standing in the mall staring at them. One at a time we focused, as instructed, on a point about 3 feet behind the image in an effort to make the hidden 3-D image become visible.

One by one, various people in the crowd would exclaim, “I see it!” and then they would proceed to report what they had seen. Try as I might – I could not see the image for myself. The rectangle of brightly-colored geometric designs remained a flat, lifeless puzzle to me.

This was what was happening to me with the Christian one-liners. One person, the pastor or a speaker, would press in and find a life-changing Biblical concept, they would “see it” and share their experience.

Their message would get passed from person to person like a huge game of “telephone.” Inevitably condensed into an easy-to-remember slogan, the original, full, deep meaning was eventually lost. But, try as I might, I just couldn't "see" it.

Unfortunately, by the time one of these saying got to me, it seemed to cause more harm than good when it came to my Christian growth. These slogans tended to provoke more doubts, more questions and thus, loads more resentment within me, rather than satiate my very-real-need for very-real-answers.

Readers: What is your most-hated Christian platitude?

Christian Cliches are NOT Enough!

I hate Christian platitudes. I always have. I remember when I was a much-younger Christian and I had some really tough questions, and – when I finally mustered up enough courage to ask other supposedly more mature Christians – I always seemed to get one of those stupid, worthless pat-answers.

You know the ones:

• “It won’t matter in light of all eternity.”
• “All things work together for the good.”
• “God is sovereign,”
• “This too shall pass.” And my ultimate worst-favorite,
• “You gotta let God be God.”

None of these meaningless slogans helped. The life-stuff I had been through, and the subsequent fallout I was still struggling with, simply could not be smoothed over by ineffective, sweet-nothings. If Jesus really was real, I needed to know how He could make a difference to me. Right here, right now: in the midst of all of life’s biggest uglies.

Maybe you can relate to that. Maybe you are wrestling with one of life’s biggest uglies right now. Maybe you have just lost your job, half of your investments, your home, or all the above. Maybe you are living in constant terror that you might be the next one in your circle of friends who loses it all. Maybe you feel worthless or unwanted at home, or are experiencing rejection or failure in a relationship. Perhaps you have been cheated, deceived or taken advantage of.

You may be suffering with one of life’s greatest losses – the loss of a loved one, the destruction of a marriage, the disintegration of your lifestyle, the crushing of your dignity or the disappearance of your hope. You could be in a situation that feels so wrong in every way, maybe you have been abandoned, neglected or abused.

Maybe you are wondering, “If Jesus exists, why doesn’t He make a difference in my life?” Maybe you are thinking as I once did, “What good is my "faith" when my life is crumbling down around me?”

For a long time in my Christian walk, I knew that Jesus existed, and I was pretty sure that if I died I’d go to heaven. But what I really needed was a faith that made a difference in my life now, on earth. It was one thing to know that at the end of this hell-on-earth I’d get to spend eternity with God, but what was really urgent to me was having a God who cared enough and was effective enough to make my life worth living.

I wondered if Jesus was enough to make a difference in my life.

Personal Message from Darilyn

I just wanted to thank my readers so very much for their continued interest and support of this blog site. I do not have the sitemeter counts visible on this page, but I do have the statistics emailed to me weekly. To my great surprise and delight, the readership of this blog continues to grow. This even in spite of no new postings since August 3. I am thoroughly impressed and humbled by all the reader attention. So, again, I say thank you so much.

As of August 3, 2010 I finished posting the first 8 movie characters that parallel Christ. I would be happy to continue posting how I see Christlike characteristics or Biblical Truths from popular films, and perhaps one day I will expand in that direction. I have been pondering which direction I should take this blog as I have enjoyed an incredible summer.

I was so fortunate to spend the first three weeks of July in Europe. (The new profile photo is of me at a Piazza in Rome.) Since returning home, I have enjoyed unlimited sleep, and some incredibly great time with my husband and young-adult children. Next week we are on a family vacation to southern California and Vegas. Meanwhile, the Lord has been using people and circumstances to speak to me about what direction my service to Him should take.

One decision I have made is that I will be posting on this blog from my next book, "Jesus is Enough." This is and will be a real spiritual stretch for me for several reasons.

First, there are still moments that come along that bring such challenge, or calamity, or sadness into my life that I catch myself asking, "Is Jesus really enough?" I don't know why this continues to surprise me. I suspect it will always be so. After all, the delight in this is that only after asking the question, and seeking Him anew in light of each new (and sometimes terrifying) circumstance, I learn, again, that He really is more than enough.

Second, the nature of sharing how Jesus is real to me in the midst of life's most 'interesting' moments, means that I will be opening myself up to you, my readers. I will have to be vulnerable and transparent in order to convey the incredible, life-saving impact that Jesus has had on my life. And so I will be giving you so much of myself.

Third, I am not finished the book, and I am not finished learning all the ways that Jesus is enough. I suspect I will be learning for the rest of my life just exactly how He is enough as life's experiences continue to bring me unique challenges.

The other decision I have made will also present a challenge to me personally, professionally and academically. I have decided to pursue my Master's of Communication degree, while I continue to teach English and Bible at the amazing private Christian academy where I have been for the past 9 years. I know I can do it because the Word tells me, "I can do all things through Christ!" Also, my friends and mentors all insist I can do it! I am choosing to believe them. This new challenge in my life will, I am sure, show me new ways in which Jesus is enough.

So, readers, I invite you to continue checking this blog for new entries. I am so thrilled with the readership that exists so far, and I encourage you to share with others anything and everything that you have found to be a blessing here.

May God richly bless you for your desire to know Him better. May He reward your diligence as you earnestly seek Him. And may He guide my every word that I may be a vessel of His blessing to you!

Congratulations, Readers! If you have been with me since the beginning of this blog, you’ve looked with me at eight of my favorite movie characters. You’ve read through almost 100 posts describing Jesus. Thank you for your interest and support!

I will be the first to admit my writing is far from perfect, but thankfully the subject of this book is Perfection Himself!

I hope you have enjoyed our journey together – I know I have. Most of all, I hope that you got a whole new, high-definition, picture of who Jesus really is. Perhaps it wasn’t a new picture at all, but maybe it was a more complete one.

You have explored 24 characteristics of Christ as reflected in the leading men in the Chick Flicks we know and love. You’ve gotten a glimpse of how Jesus feels about you, how he reacts to you, and how much he wants you. You’ve seen some of the qualities that make Him so utterly different from any other mortal man, or even any movie character (no many how many writers, stylists, or stunt men are there to feed him dialogue, make him look good, or take his place in the dangerous moments). You’ve gotten an idea of how much God values children. You’ve learned that even when our life feels like a Fire Swamp, Jesus is right there with us.

Especially through the difficult times.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog so far. And I hope that you will think of Jesus every time you admire the male romantic lead in the movies you see in the future. I pray that your journey with Him doesn’t end here. I pray that you have found Him to be as irresistible, honorable and worthy as I have found Him to be. I hope you will know the love that he has for you, and know how vast it really is.

Most importantly, I pray that you have realized how God’s Word can be a real and present help whatever your challenges may be, and I pray that you know and love Jesus more than you did at the beginning. I pray that you will invite Jesus to be your Leading Man, for now and for all of eternity. Because, and here is the point of this blog: we can’t get what we ultimately want from any film, no matter how heart-warming the script, no matter how well-acted the lines, and no matter how expertly-directed the scenes.

However, we can get what we need if we know where to look for it. We can find the Man we desire, and He has all the most noble and praiseworthy characteristics we can ever imagine.

So the Good News is that there is a Perfect man after all! Jesus Christ, the one whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, and whose death we commemorate at Easter, is the One and Only perfect man who has ever lived. He never sinned, he had no bad habits, and He really would have stopped for directions if required. Then again, He is the only man that would never have to!

Jesus is the best “Leading Man” any woman could ever hope for. I know Jesus still lives today not only in my heart, but also (in glimpses) on the silver screen. Unfortunately, in our fast-paced, media-dominated society few take the time to know Jesus better. So it has been my pleasure to paint this word-portrait for you.

If you invite Jesus into your heart, he is there to stay, and not just until the credits roll! He will never leave you, never forsake you, and never abandon you. He deeply desires that you know Him.

Readers: Stay tuned for more blog entries...