Thankful for inspiring blog posts of others to inspire one of my own.

What if we were “set free” so to speak, from societal standards, expectations of one another, and insecurities that we feel due to social pressures, etc.? I was just reading a wonderful friend of mines blog and it made me think of this. How amazing and life changing would it be to act independent of others around you-and not in an unrealistic way, but I mean how absolutely empowering would it be to live life free from all of that? Isn’t that what Christians see from Jesus? Jesus lives for God, and for us, but in a way that is less common in society. The way that Jesus was as a person was a beautiful example of the life we could live, and how wonderful that would be. Jesus lived FOR us, and he died FOR our sins. He was laughed at, ridiculed, spat upon, kicked, joked about, betrayed, denied, hated, scorned, out casted, beat up, arrested....and eventually tortured to death, all for the purpose that he believed in with his whole heart. He believed that humanity shouldn’t have to be burdened with the weight of their sins, of their mistakes, of their short-comings, of their relentless pride. Because, as we are all fully and painfully aware, we ALL fall short. Perfection doesn’t exist. And Jesus was the kind of man who loved with his whole heart, who cared for people just because. He acted justly, loved mercy, and walked humbly with God. What set him apart from other men claiming to be God wasn’t his prophetic fulfillment or his seemingly miraculous spiritual and physical healings. What made his followers start to believe that this man really is from God, was his least supernatural actions of all; his desire, willingness, and ability to forgive people left and right. This was extremely uncommon for his time-In Judaism, rabbi’s were strict on never saying to someone, “You are forgiven” because that would imply they know Gods will. All of a sudden, here comes this man who is forgiving the worst of the sinners ( like tax collectors and prostitutes ) and even inviting them over to have dinner with him. These sort of actions and beliefs that Jesus had are remarkable and inspiring. I don’t know who wouldn’t want to live like that. At least for me, I want to strive to be like that. I want to not allow people to feel alone if I can help it. I want to be kind, merciful and act with justice in my heart. I want to feel the presence of God in my actions, pushing me forward towards a fulfilling life. So you see, the more we try and be like Jesus, the more we use his actual example of how to live rather than taking it surface level, the less we will be bound by societal standards, expectations and insecurities. You don’t have to have previous religious interest or experience to learn from the historical Jesus, but I’m telling you, one of the best parts you’ll realize if you start to study him is that he not only wants to help the people of his time, but he wants to help you, right where you’re at no matter where it is, and the coolest part about it all is that there is always hope with God, and that is something I firmly believe in.