My Jesus is an inclusive Jesus. He wants everyone. You know the old-World War II poster of Uncle Sam pointing his finger outward as if he’s pointing at you with the caption Uncle Sam Wants You. Well, I visualize my Jesus in that picture pointing his crucified finger at you saying I Want You! 

My Jesus wants you…sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes and everyone!

My Jesus is an inclusive Jesus! His hands do not push you away. His hands reach out and they say come here and His arms say let me hug you for I forgive you and I love you! 

Jesus chastised the Pharisees and Sadducees for making the religion of their day too exclusive. They fostered their exclusivity with appearance and perception. They were so focused on the outside of the cup (their image) and how it looked that they let the inside of the cup (their heart) turn ugly. From its early beginnings Christianity was meant for everyone.

Do you think that Christianity has fallen into the same dark hole of exclusivity as those ancient leaders of faith? Quite the contrary, as CS Lewis says, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” Yes, you must be baptized into the Christian faith, but I do not think that baptism is falling into a dark hole of exclusivity.

Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life”, but being like Jesus is very hard to do! But does that mean we shouldn’t try? Jesus lays out the Way through his teachings and it is up to us to either say yes or no; we say yes or no to choices we have in life; we say no to sin or yes to sin! When we say no to sin we move closer to Jesus and when we say yes to sin we move away from Him.

Christianity is hard! "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting", says GK Chesterton, "It has been found difficult; and left untried. Me? I'm giving it an honest try. Why not join me?   This is a picture of my Jesus welcoming you home!