I am a Jesus pusher!!! “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:12). Jesus stretches my mind beyond its limits with the Beatitudes. I realize it is only the “prologue” to the Sermon on the Mount, but will I ever be able to live in the reality of such an experience? The answer is firmly and clearly proclaimed in the Beatitudes. He is the answer. The Kingdom is formed in His embrace; comfort is found in the fullness of His Spirit. Meekness becomes my nature through Him. The filling of all life is experienced in His revelation. He is my purity; I see God in Jesus. Peace is known in His embrace. Everything I need is found in Him. It is no less true with persecution. If I must choose between Jesus and personal safety, then I choose Jesus. He is more important and valuable to me than I am to me. How can this be? It is because I am not “me” without Him. Jesus is not an option; He is not one choice among many others. I cry with the Apostle Paul, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Do my lungs fight for oxygen? Indeed, they cannot survive without this life-giving resource. In starvation does not my body cry for food? In dehydration does not my flesh scream for water? My life cries for Jesus in the extreme measure. In this passion, everything else shrinks in importance. Anything that distracts me from Him must be eliminated. There is nothing more valuable to me than Jesus! I am a Jesus pusher!!!