This past weekend while Lindsie and I were in church, I was reminded of something important.

Jesus is awesome.

Read that last sentence again, but read it a little more slowly.

Jesus is awe-some.

The definition of awesome, according to Merriam-Webster, is “expressive of awe,” or “inspiring awe.” Far too frequently, people (including myself) overuse the word awesome. They use it regularly in everyday conversation for things that they could be describing as, “neat,” or “good,” or “pretty cool.”

And as we sat in church and the pastor talked about the various things Jesus has done for us—simple things like, you know, performing miracles, dying for the sins of mankind, rising from the dead and ascending into Heaven—I realized that far too frequently, Jesus falls into the version of awesome that most people would equate to “neat” or “pretty cool.”

It’s easy to hear the words “Jesus died for your sins” and think, “Yeah, it’s awesome that He did that.” But the truth is we should be seeing what Jesus did for us as AWESOME. As in, awe-inspiring awesome. Because what He did makes things like sports accomplishments, musical performances, and blockbuster movies seem trivial by comparison.

But it seems we’re much more likely to update Facebook saying that the newest big-time basketball dunk on YouTube or the latest James Bond movie is AWESOME than it seems we ever would be likely to update Facebook saying, “Jesus is AWESOME!”

It’s not easy, but I’m challenging myself to remember that the next time I describe something relatively trivial as “awesome.” If I can get pumped about a captivating solo performance or an amazing buzzer-beating half-court shot, there’s no reason I shouldn’t get that excited (if not more) about Jesus.

Because the bottom line is that Jesus is awesome. And I mean AWESOME.

If you don’t believe me, take a glance through the New Testament. It won’t take long before you see for yourself just how awesome He really is.

-Mike

Photo by Eric Lim Photography. Thanks Eric!