Most often, we are focused too much on ourselves and ignore the pain of this world. Sometimes we do not understand the pain of others unless we ourselves experience it directly. Most of us have an attitude of smugness and consider ourselves righteous because we did not murder, rape, abuse or steal. Even worse, we express our own opinions about morality and God and degrade them to our comfort level.

Righteousness is not only about the absence of bad things but also about the absence of good things. We could be considered unrighteous and sinful because we did not do good things like feeding someone who was hungry, visiting and comforting someone who was sick in prison, donating clothes to a poor person who was suffering in cold weather (Refer to Matthew 25:31-46). Most of us would understand this definition of righteousness, if we were in shoes of the needy like above.

I believe that we can have a deeper understanding of Jesus only when we first humble ourselves and acknowledge our unrighteousness/sinfulness. In Saint Peter's words, "Go away from me, O Lord, for I am a sinner". In my case, it is a progressive repentance. There was never a time where I fully acknowledged all my mistakes. As time went on, what I thought was not wrong before, seemed to be wrong now. I am always learning and comprehending His majesty. His standards of love, mercy and morality are very high. Because it is not easy to show left cheek when someone strikes on the right one. It is not easy to say “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”, when someone inflicts pain on us.

Jesus said "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners" - Mark 2:17

Do we need Jesus or not? To answer that question, we need to first ask ourselves whether we are righteous or sinful. As for the Bible, it clearly says that "None is righteous, not one". I do not mean that when we consider ourselves sinful, we always need to belittle ourselves and stay there. Not everyone admits their sinfulness when they come to know Jesus Christ, because they are righteous in their own eyes or they compare their righteousness with others. Let us try comparing our righteousness with Christ's. It is then we really treasure and appreciate His love and sacrifice for us.

Some people say that Jesus is only a "realized" or "awakened" soul, and we can also become like Him. Did anyone become like Him? I would like to know. Is it possible to achieve this using our own strength? Theoretically, it seems to be. But, practically I do not know anyone who lived and died like Christ, with the fullest love and power like He did. Do you know? If so, please let me know. Yes, it is possible to become like Him. But that is not easy. For that, we need to call Him into our hearts first.

I do not understand why many people do not pay close attention to Jesus. He said "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me". Even after He said like this, why do we go behind some other spiritual guru or philosophy? It would be fair for us to study Him with an open mind. We need not blindly believe His words just because it is written in the Bible. All I am asking is not to bring Him down to our level of thinking, or with some theory or philosophy proposed by some spiritual guru.

So, it is my request that we seek the truth sincerely with unbiased minds, in order to understand Christ clearly. When we observe the perfect life of Jesus closely, our shortcomings/sins will come into light and we will have repentance. And when there is repentance, we will have a deeper understanding of Christ's love and sacrifice for us. This repentance will bring positive change in us, often slowly. This inner transformation is much powerful than quick fixes that many "spiritual" gurus recommend these days. Yes, Christ's love is so powerful that even thieves turn into saints, criminals become pastors, fearful people get bold, morally corrupted people transform into social servants, and the dead become alive.

Nuren ...
		About the author:
		Nuren likes writing, teaching, people, nature and many kinds of creative work such as photography and design. He is positive, dedicated, open-minded and always looking for a way to learn something new.
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written by rojiesh , January 02, 2010

New year greetings sir, i feel happy to read this article .There are people who doesnt know the real meaning of the religion they blame jesus and christianity and other religion. To be frank in India who follow christianity especially in andhra pradesh state other peoples began to think it as a some low and bad. As you mentioned "I am the way ...." but so many people dont know the meaning of that sentence . Here I AM says not only JESUS it says LOVE and TRUTH in my way . Everyone loves some one and some other things but where is the truth in it ? Saying is not a big thing but when we follow there it comes all the problems we are tested by god fo so many reasons even Jesus also tested he sacrificed his life for SINNERS like us . we should learn so much from him . I like him as a person who always says truth and followed the path of LOVE and SACRIFICE..

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written by nuren , January 03, 2010

Thanks for your comment. You said "Here I AM says not only JESUS it says LOVE and TRUTH in my way ."

Can you clarify.

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