{"id":1262,"date":"2025-09-09T22:10:43","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T22:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/?p=1262"},"modified":"2025-10-09T14:59:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T14:59:24","slug":"if-jesus-were-here-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/if-jesus-were-here-today\/","title":{"rendered":"If Jesus Were Here Today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Maralene and Miles Wesner<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

–<\/p>\n\n\n

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Buy Book<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Maralene and Miles Wesner, whose generosity made this online resource library possible, are prolific writers of practical books focused on being faithful followers of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding to the book\u2019s title, the word \u201cstill\u201d is used throughout\u2014 \u201cIf Jesus were here today, he would still<\/em>\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is an ongoing reminder that the ways in which Jesus lived and loved are the ways his followers today are called to live and love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of the 19 chapters begin with Jesus. These include: \u201cJesus warns of self-righteousness,\u201d \u201cJesus finally loses his temper\u201d and \u201cJesus offers reconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book\u2019s brief 19 chapters could be used for personal reading, group discussions or sermon fodder. Deeper looks into the biblical stories referenced in each chapter could allow for more expanded studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve tried to pick up every clue in the Gospels that gives us information about Jesus,\u201d said Maralene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such clue, she noted, is how often Jesus sat to teach \u2014 telling stories and engaging in discussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These writings take Jesus out of ancient history and place him into our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf Jesus were here today, he would still see value in some very unlikely people, \u201dwrites the Wesners. \u201cHis choices would probably surprise us and even irritate us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They note the significance of Jesus drawing his earliest followers from among a variety of people with \u201cquestionable qualifications\u201d rather than the orthodox religious establishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven though many details would be different if Jesus lived in America today, his willingness to help us change our lives would remain the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changing one\u2019s life to align more with Jesus\u2019 life, teachings and calling is the ongoing challenge and blessing of discipleship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Review by John D. Pierce, Director of the Jesus Worldview Initiative<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Maralene and Miles Wesner – Maralene and Miles Wesner, whose generosity made this online resource library possible, are prolific writers of practical books focused on being faithful followers of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-booksintro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1262"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1570,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262\/revisions\/1570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}