Jesus doesn't care.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" --Matthew 22:36-39

We have become a nation (a world?) of personal religions. George Barna jokingly (I hope) observed that soon, among 310 million people, there will be 310 million religions.

We disagree with one another; we break off and form a new sect. So much simpler than listening and loving through it all.

We argue over so many things, from the color of the carpet to who belongs up front preaching. But Jesus doesn't care.

Jesus doesn't care if we sprinkle our babies or dunk our adults. He is not concerned with once forward, twice back-- none of that matters. What matters to Jesus is a heart of flesh, not of stone. What matters is the creation of a new heart filled with love-- first for God, then played out in love for one another.

Jesus doesn't care if we worship God with traditional music and full organ, or if we worship God with guitar and drum set. (Timbrel and dance might even work [Psalm 150].) Jesus doesn't care. 

But Jesus does care that we worship and praise God with our whole lives, that we be willing to dance like David in the streets, in utter abandon as we are overcome by the realization of how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:18).

Jesus doesn't care if we gather in a 19th-century cathedral or the cafeteria of an elementary school. He does care that we gather, and that we gather with earnest hearts, not simply to check off the attendance box. Worship, like life, involves more than simply showing up.

We cannot and should not attempt to do this thing called life-- let alone a Christian life-- by ourselves. It won't work.

Jesus doesn't care if we live in a fine manse or a humble cottage. He wants to live in our hearts.

Jesus cares for the hungry, for empty stomachs and parched spirits. 

He cares for the broken, the poor, the wounded. 

He cares for the downtrodden, for those cast aside by a world that does not care. He cares for the widows, for the orphans, for those who have lost hope. To them, he offers a new hope. A fresh promise.

And when he returned to the Father, Jesus charged us to do the same, until he returns.

Jesus does not care how beautifully we can quote Scripture, how elegantly we can pray. 

Jesus cares how we live out the teachings of Scripture, especially the "red-letter" parts (all of them).  

Jesus hears our prayers, spoken and unspoken. He listens to our hearts. 

And he cares deeply for each one of us. He desires nothing less than our restoration, because he wants you (yes, you) to spend all of eternity with him. He wants you (yes, you!) to enjoy a love that is unequaled by anything in this world, a love for who you were created to be by the Almighty (who certainly knew what he was doing!).

And whether we believe that eternal place is "out there" or "right here" matters not at all to Jesus. 
  
Jesus does not care about things that seem so important to us. Not paychecks, not fast cars or perfect hair days.

And if one of us needs to change what we care about? 

I am thinking-- it isn't Jesus.