A reflection on the difference between adding Jesus to a list of wants, and actually knowing the God we pray to.
The Hook
An ex-Hindu person says:
"Now, I don't care about this Christian religion at all. Christians say Jesus came for our welfare. But He doesn't seem to act on behalf of people by healing them, making them wealthy, and giving them peace. I see even Christians are suffering. What, then, is the power of their Jesus? I pray a lot, and yet I find no solution. Now I've given up."
The concern of this person is genuine. But there is something deeper we need to ask.
Even after his conversion, he still pays attention to old traditions and the culture he abandoned. He still enjoys engaging with those cultures. He knows the stories and teachings from his former religion. He has ideas about its traditions and practices.
But when it comes to his Christian faith, he does not seem to engage with it in the same way.
He cares about praying, but a prayer life that is almost completely detached from Scripture cannot produce spiritual maturity. Sincerity is important, but sincerity can eventually become an excuse when it replaces the pursuit of truth and knowledge.
He does not know what the Bible teaches. He has little or no knowledge of its stories—even its most familiar ones. He came to faith because he saw Jesus healing people, but unfortunately, he got stuck there. He adopted Jesus as some sort of additional god in his life.
He cares about praying, but little else.
Well, the concern of this man is genuine.
But the real question is:
Did he genuinely believe in and receive Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior?
Back to topJesus Is Not Another Item on the Checklist
Jesus does not want to become another item on our checklist or simply another priority we arrange somewhere in our lives.
He calls us to recognize Him as King, Lord, and Savior.
Jesus Himself said:
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Matthew 16:24
Following Jesus is therefore not simply about receiving something from Him. It is about surrendering ourselves to Him.
As Rabi Maharaj explains through his testimony in Death of a Guru, welcoming Jesus into one's life is not a simple decision. It costs one's whole life. He struggled with that decision. He knew he would lose his fame and power. But he also came to recognize that his old religion could not give him the genuine change he was seeking.
He wanted a genuine change in his life, and he saw that change as possible in Jesus.
He was a Brahmin, but he did not simply add Jesus to his list of countless deities or treat Him merely as another avatar of Vishnu. He surrendered his possessions and, more importantly, allowed Jesus to possess his life.
Throughout the book, we can read his testimony of how Jesus entered his life and transformed him.
That is the point.
We do not add Jesus to our list. Following Him is a surrender of the whole self, not one more priority slotted in beside everything else.
Jesus Is Not Simply the God Who Gives Us Things
We cannot simply give Jesus some space in our lives and continue living exactly as before.
His demand is much deeper—and much more painful.
Jesus wants our entire life.
Paul writes:
"Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." Romans 12:1
Jesus does not merely ask for a portion of our life. He calls us to accept His ownership.
We no longer belong merely to ourselves.
Paul says:
"You are not your own, for you were bought with a price." 1 Corinthians 6:19–20
Yet many Christians reduce Jesus to a God of healing, wealth, and peace.
That is where many of us misunderstand Him.
I am not saying that we have to abandon our cultures. Culture itself is not automatically evil. But there are obviously areas from which we should refrain when they contradict our faith and allegiance to Christ.
There was a time when our lives could be governed by rituals, constellations, fear of reincarnation, attempts to eliminate suffering through additional suffering, and many other beliefs and practices.
Now Jesus calls us to be possessed by something else.
We have to deny ourselves, empty ourselves, and accept the invitation of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said:
"If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." John 14:23
The real joy of the Christian way is not merely receiving things from God.
It is possessing God Himself.
As the psalmist says:
"Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you." Psalm 73:25Back to top
We Cannot Grow Without Knowing Him
When we do not care about our faith, reading Scripture, engaging in fellowship, or going to church, we cannot expect to grow spiritually.
The Bible does not present Christian life as merely:
"Add Jesus to your life, pray occasionally, and that's enough."
The early Christians devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers:
"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." Acts 2:42
Jesus calls us to be His body.
He is indeed calling us to continue the mission of redemption.
But what do we sometimes do instead?
We reduce Him to a God who offers us something.
When we lose sight of who Jesus is, we can no longer see the glory that lies beyond our present suffering—the glory Paul himself looked toward.
Paul wrote:
"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." Romans 8:18Back to top
"I Have Jesus, So I Don't Need the Church"
There are even Christians who think:
"God is in me, so I no longer need to attend church."
That is a biblically troublesome thought.
The church is not merely a place of our personal choice, nor is it something we invented for ourselves. Jesus Himself said:
"I will build my church." Matthew 16:18
The New Testament repeatedly encourages believers to remain connected to one another.
Hebrews says:
"Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together… but encouraging one another." Hebrews 10:24–25
Christianity was never designed to be lived entirely in isolation.
We are called into a community.
We are called into fellowship.
We are called into the body of Christ.
And therefore, the idea that "I have Jesus, so I don't need Scripture, fellowship, or the church" does not fit the pattern of Christian discipleship presented in the New Testament.
Back to topHow Can You Pray to Someone You Don't Know?
This raises another important question:
How would you even pray meaningfully to someone whom you do not know?
Prayer matters. Sincerity matters. But Christian prayer is not meant to be separated from knowing the God to whom we pray.
The Scripture is not simply a collection of religious stories that we can ignore after conversion.
Paul tells Timothy:
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." 2 Timothy 3:16
We need to know the God we worship.
As James White notes in The Forgotten Trinity, our understanding of God matters because worship directed toward a God we have fundamentally misunderstood can become worship of a false conception of God.
This is why knowledge matters.
Your sincerity does not automatically make every belief correct.
Your sincerity does not automatically make every practice right.
And your sincerity should never become an excuse for refusing to learn.
Back to topWhen Sincerity Becomes an Excuse
You care a lot about the cultures and stories of your abandoned religion.
You know its traditions.
You know its stories.
But then you know almost nothing about your current faith.
How can that produce spiritual growth?
Instead, when something goes wrong, you complain more against Jesus or against Christians while Scripture—which speaks into our grief, suffering, hope, identity, and future—remains closed.
And you do not want it.
You simply think:
"I do pray, and Jesus hears me. That's fine."
Seriously, that's not fine.
When that attitude becomes a deliberate refusal to know, follow, and obey Christ, it becomes rebellion.
The problem is not that you pray.
The problem is that prayer has become a substitute for discipleship.
The problem is not that you want Jesus to help you.
The problem is that you want what the Giver gives without wanting to engage with the Giver Himself.
Scripture warns:
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6
Prayer without knowledge of who you're praying to isn't humility — it's a substitute for discipleship. Sincerity and truth were never meant to compete.
This Is Not About Declaring Who Goes to Hell
Again, my point is not to say that such people would go to hell.
That is not my point.
What I mean is that we can sometimes become dishonest with ourselves.
We want the offered thing from the Giver, but we do not want to engage with the Giver.
Yes, God is merciful.
Yes, God embraces a sincere heart.
But as human beings, we also have a tendency to turn sincerity into an excuse.
And when that happens, sincerity no longer produces maturity.
It produces spiritual malnutrition.
Peter therefore says:
"Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 3:18
Christian maturity requires growth.
Growth requires knowing Christ.
And knowing Christ requires more than occasionally asking Him for something.
This isn't a verdict on anyone's eternity. It's a caution about a real pattern: wanting what God gives while avoiding God Himself. Left unchecked, that pattern doesn't build maturity — it produces spiritual malnutrition.
In the End: Jesus Is Not an Addition
We cannot simply take Jesus as if we are adding one more god to our lives.
We cannot simply think that we can live our lives by praying without Bible study, fellowship, discipleship, and participation in the body of Christ.
We cannot simply assume that receiving Jesus is all that we need without considering the cost of following Him against our old lifestyle and our own desires.
Jesus said:
"Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:27
All in all, God wants us to become more like Jesus.
But that cannot happen until we know Jesus, follow Jesus, and engage with Him in daily life.
Jesus is not merely the God who heals.
He is not merely the God who gives wealth.
He is not merely the God who gives peace.
He is Lord.
And the Christian life is not simply about asking,
"What can Jesus give me?"
It is ultimately about asking,
"Who is Jesus—and what does it mean to belong to Him?"
The Christian life isn't a transaction with a God who supplies healing, wealth, and peace on request. It's a relationship with a Lord who asks for everything — and gives Himself in return.
Know Him. Follow Him. Be Transformed.
Matthew 16:24
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