April 23rd, 2025
The Upward Look, by Jon Forrest
Thinning Out Christ
There was a little old church out in the countryside: painted white and with a high steeple. One Sunday, the pastor noticed that his church needed painting. He checked out the Sunday ads and found a paint sale. The next day, he went into town and bought a gallon of white paint. He went back out to the church and began the job. When he finished the first side the paint was looking great. But he noticed he had already used a half gallon. He didn’t want to run back in town and being the creative person that he was, he found a gallon of thinner in the shed out back, and began to thin his paint. It worked out great. He finished the remaining three sides with that last half gallon of paint. That night, it rained: it rained hard. The next morning when he stepped outside of the parsonage to admire his work, he saw that the first side was looking great, but that the paint on the other three sides had washed away. The pastor looked up in sky in anguish and cried out, “What shall I do?” A voice came back from the heavens saying, “Repaint, you thinner and thin no more!”
Many who claim to be followers of Christ take their salvation on the basis of Jesus Christ and add religious tradition to the requirement of following Him. They think that Jesus is great, but there must be something more that must be done than simply having a relationship with Christ. Following Christ leads us to a life of service, but service doesn’t save us, knowing Christ does. Following Christ leads us to joining together with the church family on His day, but going to church doesn’t save us, Christ does. Following Christ leads us to a life of sacrifice, but a life of sacrifice doesn’t save us, Christ does. Following Christ leads us to a life of generous giving, but our giving doesn’t save us, Christ does. Adding other requirements to salvation thins out the value of Jesus in our lives and makes us followers of Jesus and “religion” thus making us dependent on less than only Him. We thin out Jesus.
I hope you get the point. Jesus Christ fills us with himself and changes the infrastructure of our entire beings. He doesn’t make our religion better. He replaces our religion with himself. In the Ninth chapter of Matthew we are told how Jesus’ disciples were criticized by religious people for not doing certain religious traditions that had been important to them. Jesus used the illustration of a wedding, a used garment and a new patch, and new wine being poured into old wineskins to demonstrate how the way of God was all knew. If Jesus didn’t make us completely new, we would not be able to contain what He was doing in us. The regeneration of our formerly religious hearts must change the way we see everything, not just some things.
Jesus came to be everything to us; not a thinned out version. It must be all Jesus or no Jesus. “Repaint you thinner, go and thin no more!”
Sunday we will return to our series of messages, Holy Stories, based on Christ’s Parables. This week’s message is Too Late to Pray based on the parable Jesus told in Luke 16:19-31. You will be challenged and encouraged to seek Jesus early, not later.
Not so thin,
Jon
Thinning Out Christ
There was a little old church out in the countryside: painted white and with a high steeple. One Sunday, the pastor noticed that his church needed painting. He checked out the Sunday ads and found a paint sale. The next day, he went into town and bought a gallon of white paint. He went back out to the church and began the job. When he finished the first side the paint was looking great. But he noticed he had already used a half gallon. He didn’t want to run back in town and being the creative person that he was, he found a gallon of thinner in the shed out back, and began to thin his paint. It worked out great. He finished the remaining three sides with that last half gallon of paint. That night, it rained: it rained hard. The next morning when he stepped outside of the parsonage to admire his work, he saw that the first side was looking great, but that the paint on the other three sides had washed away. The pastor looked up in sky in anguish and cried out, “What shall I do?” A voice came back from the heavens saying, “Repaint, you thinner and thin no more!”
Many who claim to be followers of Christ take their salvation on the basis of Jesus Christ and add religious tradition to the requirement of following Him. They think that Jesus is great, but there must be something more that must be done than simply having a relationship with Christ. Following Christ leads us to a life of service, but service doesn’t save us, knowing Christ does. Following Christ leads us to joining together with the church family on His day, but going to church doesn’t save us, Christ does. Following Christ leads us to a life of sacrifice, but a life of sacrifice doesn’t save us, Christ does. Following Christ leads us to a life of generous giving, but our giving doesn’t save us, Christ does. Adding other requirements to salvation thins out the value of Jesus in our lives and makes us followers of Jesus and “religion” thus making us dependent on less than only Him. We thin out Jesus.
I hope you get the point. Jesus Christ fills us with himself and changes the infrastructure of our entire beings. He doesn’t make our religion better. He replaces our religion with himself. In the Ninth chapter of Matthew we are told how Jesus’ disciples were criticized by religious people for not doing certain religious traditions that had been important to them. Jesus used the illustration of a wedding, a used garment and a new patch, and new wine being poured into old wineskins to demonstrate how the way of God was all knew. If Jesus didn’t make us completely new, we would not be able to contain what He was doing in us. The regeneration of our formerly religious hearts must change the way we see everything, not just some things.
Jesus came to be everything to us; not a thinned out version. It must be all Jesus or no Jesus. “Repaint you thinner, go and thin no more!”
Sunday we will return to our series of messages, Holy Stories, based on Christ’s Parables. This week’s message is Too Late to Pray based on the parable Jesus told in Luke 16:19-31. You will be challenged and encouraged to seek Jesus early, not later.
Not so thin,
Jon
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