Jesus had some harsh things to say.
Things like,
“Blessed are you when others revile and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” Matthew 5:11 (ESV)
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21 (ESV)
“Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor.” Mark 10:21 (ESV)
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26 (ESV)
“So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:33 (ESV)
Jesus is not safe.
In fact, if He is not God, we should all run far, far away from Him. Consider that He is a man who walks up to people and says, “Follow me.”
Not, “Hey, let’s be buds,” or “Would you like to shadow me for a few months while you decide whether or not this whole discipleship thing is going to work out for you?” Just “Follow me.”
And the expected response is that you will leave everything behind and give Him complete control of your life. He wants to tell you how to act, how to talk, how to dress, how to think, where to live, what job to have, whom to marry (or whom to stay married to), and whom to associate with.
Scary stuff.
Unless He’s God. In which case, you owe Him your very existence as well as your worship. If He is Lord of all, then He deserves to be your Lord. Is that what you’re letting Him be? Or are you holding something back?
He won’t settle for second place. He’s either God who gets to control your life or a creeper to be avoided at all costs.
Which are you treating Him as?