"Your therapist isn’t your Lord." 3 signs you’re treating Jesus as guru, not God.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

My friend Hannah Brencher says, “We are a follower-obsessed culture.” I am certainly not immune. I follow authors on Amazon, podcasters on Spotify, and “top voices” on LinkedIn. If we’re not careful, we’ll reduce Jesus’s call to “follow me” to little more than casually clicking “follow” on another influencer.

But Jesus is not just another guru. Today’s passage reminds us that he is Mighty God. Christ is not one of many, but the one and only. As Tim Keller said in his excellent book, Hidden Christmas, “The people who actually saw and heard Jesus never reacted indifferently or even mildly….Nobody said, ‘He is so inspiring. He makes me want to live a better life.’ If the baby born at Christmas is the Mighty God, then you must serve him completely.”

Here are 3 signs you and I are not—3 signs we may be treating Jesus as just another guru, rather than Mighty God.

#1: You pick and choose which of his commands to obey. A friend of mine who claims to be a Christian refused to forgive someone who wronged him in business. “After talking with my therapist, I don’t feel peace about forgiving him,” my friend told me. I respectfully replied, “Your therapist isn’t your Lord. Jesus is. And his Word calls you to forgive as he has forgiven you” (see Ephesians 4:32). It’s wise to pick and choose which advice to follow from gurus. But it’s foolish to pick and choose which commands to follow from Mighty God.

#2: You look to him primarily for inspiration rather than instruction. Jesus is not a tool for “Monday Morning Motivation” like the self-help gurus in your social media feed. His words aren’t primarily meant to inspire you before a big pitch, but to instruct you—shaping both the content of that pitch and your character as you deliver it.

#3: You embrace his mission while rejecting his methods. Or, as my friend Skye Jethani puts it, you “divorce the work of Christ from the way of Christ.” Your marketing tactics are focused on scarcity rather than abundance. Your management style fills your team with anxiety rather than peace. Be careful: These are signs that Jesus is just another guru in your life, rather than Mighty God.

I’m confident something above convicted you this morning. I know it did for me. Whatever it is, take a moment to repent of that sin in prayer, recognize Jesus as Mighty God, and respond with one practical way you will surrender more fully to his lordship at work today.