“At first glance, Jesus’ resume is rather simple.  He never traveled more than a few hundred miles from his home.  He never held a political office, never wrote a book, never married, never had sex, never attended college, never visited a big city, and never won a poker tournament.  He died both homeless and poor.”

-Mark Driscoll from Vintage Jesus 

I ask the question in the beginning because many of the things listed above are what we strive after.  Who doesn’t want to get married, visit a big city, maybe write a book, travel?  These are all good things in and of themselves, but this quote really struck me because I could identify with most of it.  I myself have travelled more than a hundred miles from my home.  In fact, I live over 3,000 miles from where I was born.  I want to be married, have a family (which dictates the sex portion), I am a college graduate, I’ve visited some of the biggest cities in the world, I am not homeless, and I am far from poor.  I have not won a poker tournament, so at least Jesus and I have that in common, right?  But in all seriousness, I took stock in this quote when I first read it because of how different Jesus was from me.  The above list obviously does not make you a bad person, but it seems like the ingredients for success in America or many Western societies today.  I was challenged by what I read.  If Jesus was so different than I, maybe I need to switch my priorities.  Granted, this list does not take into consideration what is in your heart.  What are your actions, what are your motives, what are your thoughts, how do you treat your fellow man?  After all, “man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.”  

The biggest thought I take from all this though is how much Jesus would still be shunned today.  He was looked down upon in his day and age, but how much more in 2011?  The above list defines a well educated, cultured, successful, and esteemed individual, but it doesn’t define Jesus very well.  Fight the norm.  Be who you are, but be more like Jesus, not what the socialites and elitists deem important.