4 Reasons Christians Today Don’t Want Jesus

Have you ever heard the song, “Give Me Jesus”? It’s a relatively simple song, but it has a profoundness to it. It progresses through following scenarios of life: “In the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus. When I am alone, give me Jesus. And when I come to die, give me Jesus.” Each time it ends with, “Give me Jesus.” My favorite part is the end where it says, “You can have all this world, but give me Jesus.” We live in a world and culture where this is a rarity—even in our Christian culture! We were created to know God, and He wants us to know Him! Yet we’re so enamored with other things that we don’t do the very thing that we were made to do—know God. Throughout the Bible, we read about people who longed after God:

“Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.”—Psalm 73:25

“My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”—Psalm 42:2

“O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;”—Psalm 63:1

“…my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.”—Psalm 143:6

“With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.”—Isaiah 26:9

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 that I may know him…”—Philippians 3:7–10

Have you ever longed after God like this? Do you wake up every day seeking, longing after God? Every Christian should, but I fear that we have let things come in the way.

1. We don’t want Jesus because we want things.

We want Jesus, but we don’t want Him enough to give up our possessions. If we could have Jesus and all of our stuff, life is great, but if we have to chose between the two, we give up Jesus. We surrender our all to the Lord as long as it entitles us to a good life. In this pursuit of money and things, we forsake Christ. The Bible tells us that this pursuit is vanity.

“He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.”—Ecclesiastes 5:10

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”—1 Timothy 6:6–10

The pursuit of things over Christ will leave us empty and unfilled.

2. We don’t want Jesus because we’re not willing to die to self.

As Christians we are called to live a crucified life, Paul spoke of this on multiple occasions.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”—Galatians 2:20

“…I die daily.”—1 Corinthians 15:31

We love ourselves and our own fleshly pursuits more than Christ. In Romans 6, Paul tells us that we don’t have to sin any more. As Christians, we have become new creatures and are free from sin! Even though this is true, at times we chose sin over Christ and this freedom from sin. We’d rather be the servants of sin than of righteousness. This is a foolish pursuit, for Romans 6: 22–23 says, “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” When we are unwilling to die to self and we pursue fleshly pursuits, the wage is death as opposed to holiness and everlasting life—what a contrast. How undesirable the fruit of selfish living is, and yet we often chose it over the fruit of holiness and everlasting life.

3. We don’t want Jesus because we want to be politically correct.

We want Jesus, but the world doesn’t want us to want Him, so we don’t. We’re more concerned with acceptance from the world than from Christ. We don’t want to be offensive or politically incorrect so we compromise our believes to be more liked. Scripture strongly confronts this:

“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”—James 4:4

When we compromise for the world, we cannot have Jesus because the world is contrary to His character. And in doing so, we become an enemy of Christ.

4. We don’t want Jesus because we’re too comfortable and not willing to grow.

Do you remember getting taller as a child? While I was growing up, I had terrible growing pains. I remember many nights kept awake by horrible, indescribable pain. I hated it, but it yielded a result of growth. Growth isn’t an easy thing. It causes great pain and loss of comfort, but the result is always worth it. Our relationship with Christ requires growth. This requirement to know God more isn’t easy and comfortable, and because of this many Christians today chose comfort over Jesus. We’re willing to settle for less of God to make our lives easier. Christ wants us to conform us into His image, but He cannot do so if we’re not willing to leave our comfort zone.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”—Romans 12:2

Being transformed entails leaving our comfort zone. We’re closest to God when were furthest from our comfort zone.

Getting to know Jesus is a constant, lifetime pursuit. As we have seen, many things fight our pursuit of Him. But getting to know Christ is what we were made for, and Christ desires for us to know Him! He longs for us to. Pursuing God is worth any cost or denial that is presented.

In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
Give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus, 
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
Just give me Jesus.

When I am alone,
When I am alone, 
When I am alone,
Give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus, 
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
Just give me Jesus.

When I come to die,
When I come to die,
When I come to die,
Give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus, 
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
Just give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus, 
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
You can have all this world, 
You can have all this world, 
Just give me Jesus.