2 Unintended Misconceptions About Jesus

Have you ever done something that probably really got on someone's nerves only you didn't realize you did it until you had already done it? Something like cutting someone off in traffic or swerving over into their lane. Or maybe in the middle of a conversation you completely zoned out and you had to ask them to repeat what they just said. We all do it. We don't intend to do these things, so I call them unintended mistakes.

As Easter approaches this weekend, God reminded me this morning of two unintended misconceptions about Jesus. These are things that we don't intentionally think about in the wrong way, but we often do, and I believe we need to consider thinking about these things in the right perspective.

Misconception #1) Jesus, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, etc hasn't always existed.
If you are a true follower of Christ, you "know" that Jesus has always existed, but we don't talk about him in this way nor do we typically acknowledge His eternal existence. We are reminded in John chapter 1 and Colossians 1:15-17 that the world was actually made through Jesus. He has always been a full-functioning part of the Trinity.

However, for most of us, we unintentionally begin our thoughts of Jesus at the virgin birth. I would argue that we see glimpses of Jesus throughout the entire Old Testament. When we only speak of Jesus in terms of His earthly presence and the time moving forward, we are greatly reducing the beautiful picture of Philippians 2:5-11 and the fact that God literally came to us and gave up the comforts of Heaven to do so. The incarnation of God doesn't really hit home until you reach a point where you see Jesus as eternal.

Misconception #2) Jesus is still on the cross
Again, if you are a follower of Jesus, you "know" Jesus is alive. You "know" the tomb is empty, and you "know" that Jesus is in Heaven. However, I look at the way many of us live as Christ-followers, and I see very little victorious living. It's almost like all we see is Jesus on the cross dying for our sins so that we might be forgiven.

The problem is that the story doesn't stop at forgiveness and the cross. We can't forget that Jesus is alive today and this fact not only means our sins can be forgiven, but it also means there's victory and power available to us so that we can live a victorious life! If all we see is Jesus on the cross, we miss the power that was made available to us through His resurrection. Check out Romans 8:11. God wants us to walk in victory. He wants us to go from a state of death to a place of life. Celebrate the cross and the forgiveness we have in the death of Christ, but don't stop there! Start living victoriously because Jesus is alive!