Jesus is much more than a great leader or wise teacher. Instead of including Jesus in the list of the world’s great religious leaders (along with Mohammed, Buddha, and others), recognize that He is much more than just a great leader or wise teacher. Remember that Jesus claimed to be God, and take Him seriously. Never compare Jesus to religious figures who were merely human, because He is altogether different.

Jesus didn’t come to put on a show. Even though religion sometimes aims to feed people’s appetites for the sensational, Jesus Himself never tried to do that. He could easily have performed any kind of miracle just for the sake of showing off, but He refrained unless there was a specific purpose for granting a miracle. Understand that Jesus wants you to look beyond a desire for miracles to the One who is behind them. Expect that Jesus will sometimes choose to perform a miracle to encourage faith in those who are humble, but that He doesn’t intend for miracles to become substitutes for deeper faith.

Evil is a reality, and a relationship with Jesus gives you the power to fight it. No matter how much we may focus on inspiration through our religious traditions, we can’t ignore the reality that evil exists. Never become so sophisticated in your religious traditions that you forget the simple truth that you need to fight evil in our fallen world. Ask God to give you the courage you need to use your authority as a Christian to engage in spiritual warfare whenever necessary.

Jesus doesn’t want to just heal you; He wants to know if you really want to get well. Although religious rituals often present healing as a matter of magically receiving an answer to prayer, understand that there’s more to it. Jesus is not a divine vending machine who simply grants or denies requests; He wants to change you in the process. Before asking Jesus to heal you (physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually), first ask yourself if you truly want to get well – no matter what it costs to do so. For example, if you want to be healed of an addiction to alcohol, are you truly willing to make the sacrifices you’ll need to make to start living a healthy lifestyle? Rather than expecting Jesus to magically heal you without any effort on your part, decide to cooperate with Him in the process.

Jesus can seem foolish. Despite religion’s attempts to explain Jesus, He is beyond human comprehension. Sometimes His wisdom will seem foolish to us because we can’t understand it from our perspective. Don’t worry about not being able to explain Jesus’ ways. Instead, let His mystery draw you closer to Him to constantly learn more and more.

Jesus isn’t bound by the limitations of our culture. Recognize that, while religious traditions often vary across cultures, Jesus is the same for people from all cultures at all times in history. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that Jesus is like our cultural images of Christians (for example, Jesus isn’t a Republican who lives in the suburbs with a large family). Take off your cultural glasses so you can see Jesus more clearly.