Lynn Jones: Living like Jesus
By Lynn Jones
Missionary E. Stanley Jones once asked Mahatma Gandhi how Christianity could be more acceptable in India. Gandhi responded, “I would suggest, first, that all of you Christians begin to live more like Jesus Christ.”
That is the great need and the great challenge for all Christians—to live more like Jesus. No one does it perfectly, but some do it better than others. Let me tell you about one who did it better.
When our son was young, we lived in Springhill, Louisiana, where I served as pastor of Central Baptist Church. Some of our son Blake’s closest friends were the Nash boys. There were four of them. One of the highlights of Blake’s life was going around the corner to visit the Nash boys. Riding herd over the Nash boys and their visitors were their parents, Jerry and Kathy. Kathy took charge while they were inside, and Jerry took charge while they were outside.
Mr. Jerry Nash was always playing ball with the boys and figuring out acceptable ways for them to expend their boundless energy. When we started a basketball team for the little guys at church, we asked Jerry to be their coach. Under his patient and gentle leadership, the boys learned a lot about basketball and other important things that they saw modeled in Jerry’s life..
During this time, we had a supper for the men and boys at the church and invited Roger Carr to speak. Roger was a former NFL player who had played receiver for the Colts. After his playing career was over, he came back to his alma mater, Louisiana Tech, to coach.
When he spoke at our church, at one point Roger asked all the small boys to come forward. He said that he wanted to talk to them about a special friend. This was the best friend that they could ever have. He asked the boys if they would like to guess who that friend was. No one said a word, so Roger pushed ahead. He said, “Let me give you a couple of hints. His name has five letters in it, and it begins with a ‘J’.” One of the boys held up his hand, and when Roger called on him, he said, “Jerry, Mr. Jerry Nash!” Roger had been expecting someone to say “Jesus,” but instead he got “Jerry, Mr. Jerry Nash.”
I didn’t know whether to be embarrassed by that answer or proud. It was kind of embarrassing that the boys from our church didn’t answer “Jesus”. But on the other hand, I couldn’t help but feel proud that one little boy instinctively recognized the qualities of kindness, patience, and love in Jerry’s life that were reflective of Jesus.
As Gandhi reminded E. Stanley Jones and all of us, Christians ought to live more like Jesus. I’m grateful that Mr. Jerry Nash did.
Lynn Jones is a retired pastor who lives in Oxford. He does supply preaching for churches in his area and often serves as an interim pastor. Jones is also an author, has written two books and writes a weekly newspaper column. He may be contacted at: kljones45@yahoo.com.
