One thing that is on my mind a lot and actually is the title of this whole blog, is how to live like Jesus.
You see, throughout my new life, my time as a Christian, that is one thing that has became extremely evident to me. In fact, the word Christian means in a proverbial sense, "all that is noble, good and Christ-like." I would say that the last one is the one I would associate the word with. "Christ-like" to me is a tall order. I bet you can sympathize with me. I am only human. I am not Him. Jesus is God and I am merely His creation. Those are the things that some of us think when we think of being Christ-like. You see though, none of that matters. From the very beginning of the Bible, in Genesis, it is seen that are meant to be like our Creator.
Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:26-27
There has been many times that I have read over that verse robotically. I have read over it, without seeing the significance. Today though, I say this. If God wanted to create us in His image, sacred, holy and amazing image, then why would we be anything less than like Christ. We say all the time that Jesus was God among us. The scriptures even say it, like the gospel of John says, "The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him." - John 1:9 This is stated again like this, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:14.
Full of grace and truth huh? Grace is what God gave us when Jesus died on the cross for our sins. The act dying for the sins of the world, so that we could be renewed and given new life, in Him. Grace is a gift that someone doesn't deserve. I do not have everything figured out. I fail. Guess what? The same grace is available to me when I fail. The same grace is available to me even though I don't have everything figured out.
Truth is exactly that. Truth. The truth about God, the truth about salvation for everyone. Jesus was full of that. Grace and truth.
There is quite a few things that are sought after in our culture today. Money. Power. Respect. Some people would give anything for those things. Honestly, I think that we use them as a filler for what we really want. I've had moments where I have been full of grace and truth. Those moments came from the Spirit of God working through me. The crazy thing is, those moments that I felt that were some of the best moments of my life. The moments I felt most alive are when I was full of the Spirit and full of grace and truth. I would say that most people who want money, power or respect really want the Spirit and want to be Christ-like.
Personally, my biggest thing was love. A father's love. Something I never ever had. I wanted a dad to love me. Let me say this, my Dad loves me, very much. He's your Father too and He loves you so much that He was willing to die for you. Despite all of the things we've done. He died for us. Kids like to emulate their dad. I want to emulate mine.
Have a great rest of the week.
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