10 Amazing Life Tips From Jesus

Take some advice from a deity?

I might give ‘religion’ a pass, but I love Jesus—that guy who was always saying nice, weird things. So of course they killed him.

While it lasted, he gave the best advice?

1. Be childlike

Jesus is big on the spiritual qualities of children. And children like him too. They approach Jesus in the scene of Matthew 19:14—after he tells his overgrown disciples to stop getting in the way.

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

The idea went completely over the heads of his disciples. It’s rarely heard in Christian circles either. They keep trying to be “adults” all the time—even when that’s clearly not working.

2. Be present

Jesus was hitting that ‘mindfulness’ vibe way before it was cool. The messiah is all about the right now, as in Matthew 6:34.

“Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

Jesus is often a beacon of serenity when people around him are distracted, worried, fretting. But even when he’s angry or sad, it’s a response to that particular moment, not a build-up over time.

Likewise, he doesn’t hold grudges.

3. Express yourself

Let that inner self shine out, Jesus says in Matthew 5:16:

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

He doesn’t refer to God’s light shining in you. He says it’s your light! You need to “let” it shine, he says, as if you’ve been holding it back?

Jesus says: be your radiant self.

4. Work on that ego

It’s still an outrageous story that a deity comes to the earth in the form of an ordinary guy who wanders around the countryside with his friends. Mostly, people don’t even know he’s a deity.

Jesus is often telling people to work on their egos—as if the really divine quality is to do leadership quietly. Here’s Mark 10:43–45:

“Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.”

5. Non-retaliation

Most events on earth happen on the “tit for tat” model — you do this, I do that, rinse and repeat. Jesus is all about breaking this cycle of cause and effect. Like in Matthew 5:39:

“But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”

Jesus is no fool. He’s a king. In non-retaliation, he’s depriving the attacker of the desired escalation. He creates hesitation, and confusion. These are Jesus’ regular weapons to awaken the dormant spirituality of other people.

6. Meet new people

Jesus came from a spiritual community that saw itself as having the only true access to God. Then he told them to go meet other people!

“If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?… if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:47)

The word ‘perfect’ means inclusive—like when all the pieces of a broken object are brought back together. Jesus’ idea is that every person is a part of God. To find God, you have to go meet them.

7. Get naked

Something a lot of people don’t know is that Jesus wasn’t that into wearing clothes. Mark Townsend notes that “the three most significant events in Christ’s life — his baptism, crucifixion, and resurrection — occurred when he was naked.”

Jesus is in and out of clothes a lot, actually (cf. Jn 13:4, etc.). As the “new Adam” (1 Cor 15:45) he’d be Edenic, paradisiacal, “naked and unashamed”—just being himself. Beautiful.

Early Christians are recorded to have done baptisms naked. The motto was: Naked I follow the naked Christ.

8. Dance a lot!

Jesus is often depicted as stern, severe or in pain, but the narratives have him bringing the party. He’s criticized for it, of course.

“Look at him, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!”

He’s so festive in Luke 7:34, and in Luke 10:21, he’s “full of joy.” This Greek word he’s full of, agalliaō, says Eugene Peterson, “conveys an exuberance we see expressed in dance and cartwheels.”

Jesus is often associated with dancing (i.e. Lk 7:31–32), which is a sacred activity in the Bible, often done by prophets (Exo 15:20, etc.). To dance was to access divine knowledge.

I love thinking of Jesus whirling around joyfully, learning through his own movements. He says in a non-canonical book, the Acts of John:

“Whoso danceth not, knoweth not what cometh to pass.”

9. Try a non-traditional family?

Jesus is not into ordinary family. He seems to all but write off his own after they try to have him declared insane (Mark 3:21). That was not cool.

He often spoke of his new chosen family as being the divine path, as in Matthew 12:50:

“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

10. Keep up your searching…

To be “religious” is often to think you’re acquiring a set of fixed beliefs, but Jesus is all about the search. He frames it as an ongoing process, without a specific goal in mind, as in Luke 11:9–10:

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find.”

To examine his language is to see a lot of surprises. A search is not a search on a fixed track, but rather, a search for the next truth for you.

He doesn’t say the door is opened by God, the angels, saints, the Holy Spirit, your pastor, or parents. Maybe you’ll open it yourself?

Maybe you wouldn’t have tried unless a friend believed in you. 🔶

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