Prozac Jesus

 Someone asked if, when we "invited" a person to come to Christ, just what and who were we inviting them to? It's a valid question, perhaps more so today than ever.

When I came to Christ, I remember one of the popular invitations was to come and discover the "wonderful plan" He had for my life. That was appealing to me, especially since my life to that point had evidenced no plan whatsoever. More than that, the wonderful plan seemed, at least to me, to be one that was filled with blessings and happiness. They weren't outright lying. His plan is ultimately wonderful, and there is ultimate happiness, but I heard little to nothing about the cross He expected me to take up and carry. I heard little or nothing about the suffering that would come with that cross. I heard much about the "destiny" that He had for me, but I'd no idea that I'd often find myself in places where I'd ask, both silently and out loud, "Is this it? Is this my destiny?"

Writer and pastor Paul Tripp used the term "Prozac Jesus" in one of his writings. Prozac is a drug used to treat depression and anxiety. Its goal is to greatly lessen or even eliminate both. A Prozac Jesus is one that we can bring all the unhappy things that can happen in life to and find full relief from them all. Prozac is meant to give the illusion of wellness. We want much the same from Jesus Christ. We want Him to protect us from all that is bad, wrong, and evil, as well as all their effects. We want our life view to be that of one relaxing in a recliner. He wants us to see life as He did from His cross. We want Him as a remedy for and protection against pain, discomfort, and suffering. Christ calls us to walk through all of that, bearing our cross, and experiencing His resurrection life in the midst of it. He's the Hope of the world and He proclaims that hope through His people. 

The recliner life isn't real. Neither is Prozac Jesus. Both are illusions. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that when Jesus calls a man, "He bids him to come and die." He does call us to death, but it is death to the greedy demands of the self-life so that we might experience the wonder and abundance of the Christ-life. The door to the latter is His cross. We live in a fallen world. Jesus didn't promise us protection from it, but the grace and power to live through it in victory, and to know His abundance through it all. To know and live a life filled with His riches; joy, peace, and beauty out of ashes. Most of all, He fills our lives with Himself, and then shines through our lives as a means of drawing others to Himself through us. He doesn't keep us from trouble, He enables us to overcome life's troubles in the strength of His Life.

In the movie The Matrix, rebel leader Morpheus offer Neo a choice between two pills; a red one that will bring him total awareness of what really is, or a blue one, that will allow him to go back to the illusion of life that the machines, who have enslaved the human race, have trapped them in. Our enemy, Satan, created the Prozac Jesus and every other counterfeit representation of Jesus Christ. This is the Jesus he would have us know. Christ offers Himself as He truly is. Illusion or reality. Life or death. Which have we chosen? Which do we choose now?

Blessings,
Pastor O