We need the truth about Jesus, but not without Jesus himself. Who would ever settle for accuracies of a friend and yet never experience friendship? Systematic theology, which we love, doesn’t love us in return. But Jesus loves us. The doctrine of the virgin birth cannot comfort us when the news of cancer hits home—but the one born of the virgin will. Do you see the difference? Francis Schaeffer put it this way, “Doctrine is important, but it is not an end in itself. There is to be an experiential reality, moment by moment.” A real Jesus really matters.

One of the devil’s greatest ploys is to distance us from the realness of Jesus. While heresy is a handy tool for the evil one, an orthodoxy wielded and tilted at the wrong angle can also do his work.

Doctrine is vital to the Christian life. I must state that upfront for the sake of everything else I’m about to say, lest I’m misread. We can never diminish or dilute the importance of sound doctrine. My concern is when our theology never rises above the ink set on the page. I want to warn us about doing theology in a way that depersonalizes our Lord. Any approach to doctrine that dehumanizes Jesus of Nazareth is deadly to our spirituality.

If our understanding of eternal sonship, substitutionary atonement, Christus Victor, resurrection, and the lot are only seen as sentences and standards to maintain, we are lost at night in the snowy mountains. It’s dangerous. We need to stay near the light, the path, and the 98.6 degrees of warmth of Christ’s risen body. Never lose the realness of Jesus.

My spirituality changed forever when it hit me in a fresh way that Jesus is more than doctrinal data to affirm. He is a real person. Human. Not a theory or mythology. Jesus is a Jewish man. He is incarnate—Son of God, now in human flesh. He has the features—hair, facial construction, build, accent, etc.—of an Israelite born in the first century and grew up in Nazareth. Today, he sits on the throne, reigning over the universe, loving, leading, interceding, and caring for his people. He is drawing people to himself, too. I know this seems elementary—it’s not. It’s everyday Christianity.

Our flesh and the devil are happy to uncarnate Christ—to reduce him to doctrinal points we affirm and then ignore him. But spiritual theology rejoices over Christ—his person and work—as our divine and personal Savior, Lord, and Friend.

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