Recently, YWAM Tyler held its annual Fall Staff Kickoff. This year's theme was “Pursuing the Call of God.” It was a great weekend. We had several great times of worshiping the Lord. We heard from some great men and women of God who encouraged us in the love of the Lord.

As the weekend progressed, I was overwhelmed by the goodness of God. With every song that was sung, with every testimony that was shared, with every prayer that was prayed there was one message that came through loud and clear: God loves each and every one of us with an undying love. He is so good. His mercy is good. His judgment is good. His dealings with us are good. In everything He does or says, He is good.

I began to meditate on the goodness of God. Immediately I was reminded of this Scripture in the second chapter of Romans:

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
Romans 2:4

When I heard the news Sunday that infamous abortion doctor George Tiller was shot, I was shocked. It is so tragic when a person's life is taken from them. As someone with a pro-life perspective, I hold all life as sacred. It is a tragedy that Dr. Tiller has been murdered. My deepest condolences and prayers are with his wife and children.

I may not have agreed with Dr. Tiller's actions, but what was done to him was evil and should be condemned. I know there are those that will take this opportunity to push the politics of their particular stance on the issue of abortion and say either, "Tiller got what he had coming to him," or "See what those fanatical pro-lifers have done," but now is not the time for agenda-pushing.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

- Ephesians 3:15-19

A few days ago I was sitting in a prayer time and someone read this scripture. While they were reading the passage I had a funny thought pass through my head. I started thinking about “breadth, length, height, and depth.” I imagined myself walking around the perimeter of a building. I was able to get a pretty good assessment of how big the building was just by looking at how tall, long and wide it was. We all remember from math class in elementary school how you get the volume of an object, right? You multiply the length x the width x the height. In my imagination I thought I was getting a pretty good idea about how big this building was. Then I walked inside the building and realized it had a huge basement. I discovered that my estimation about the size of the building was way off. I had greatly under-estimated the actual size of the building because I didn’t know about the basement. There was no way for me to know about the additional space from just looking at the exterior of the place. I had to go inside to discover the hidden space.

Alright, time for some correlative magic. Let’s replace my daydream’s building with the love of God. Here are two things we can learn from this analogy.

The way we view Jesus directly affects the relationship we are able to have with Him. The way we view Jesus is the thing that allows us to enter into substantive worship. It is the revelation of His character that gives birth to heartfelt adoration on our part.

Let's look at some of the common ways in which Jesus is most often described in contemporary settings.

Jesus: Savior, Healer, and Miracle Worker

This is the most common view of Jesus, and rightly so. This Jesus is the Savior of the world. He told us He came to seek and save that which is lost. He came to heal and to restore that which is broken. This Jesus is able to turn water into wine and feed 5000+ with a small boy's two-piece fish dinner. This Jesus can walk on water and raise the dead. He is the miracle worker of the Bible.

Hippie Jesus

Another common view that people hold of Jesus is what I like to call "Hippie Jesus." This Jesus is your best friend. He likes to hang out and have fun. His hair is shaggy and He smells of sweat, patchouli, and fresh-cut grass. He always has a smile on His face and a hop in His step. He loves to laugh and hates to have conflict with anyone. He does what He can to be a friend to all and to not offend anyone. His motto is "Peace, love, and happiness."