Kyle Idleman came up with the term “Mesus.”*  It’s when we project the things we like about ourselves onto Jesus—and only those things. If we like acts of mercy and adventure, we focus on those things in Jesus (while neglecting everything else). We think we’re honouring Jesus, but we’re really just honouring what we like most about ourselves.

Then there’s “McJesus.” It’s a comment about consumerism. Just as we look at the menu and pick the fries and shake, so we carefully select the things we like about Jesus (which serve our immediate appetites) and neglect the other things. Some people even select beliefs and practices from different religions.

In Colossians 2, Paul warns Christians against these very things. He writes: “These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion” (Colossians 2:23). He was addressing their tendency to adopt ideas and practices from non-Christian sources.

When we do this, we are acting as if Jesus isn’t enough, and as if the Scriptures are somehow lacking.

At the heart of all of this is, I think, a deep-seated fear. Afraid that God isn’t really God and that I might be alone. Afraid that the Bible is missing something. Afraid of what is coming next or that the future will crush me.

Fear loves of a vacuum.  It grows bigger and bigger as the Lordship of Jesus gets smaller and smaller.

Life is a gift. But it can also be a beast—which is difficult, if not impossible, to tame. Because of that, there are going to be times when we experience fear. But when the Lordship of Jesus is at the centre of our lives, fear doesn’t have as much room to grow.

Blaise Pascal famously said that there is a God-sized vacuum inside every person. Unless it gets filled with God, something else will be more than happy to squat in the real estate of your heart and try to take over.

Like fear.

Mesus and McJesus are weak-kneed pushovers who don’t do justice to the real deal: the risen Lord Jesus Christ, our Victor over fear and death itself.

Cling to the One who has been through the valley of the shadow of death, and carried you through to the other side.

---

Notes and extra content:

–“Spiritual Warfare—a talk with Jon Thompson.” You can click here to access watching or listening options on ‘The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan.’

–“Mesus, McJesus and the Rise of Fear.” Sermon. May 12, 2024. Click here.

–“Christ is Lord—even over the demonic realm and self-made religion.” Bible study podcast on Colossians 2:6-23. Click here.

–*Kyle Idleman, The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins (David C Cook: Colorado Springs, 2015).

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.