The following is derived from a conversation I had with my wife this morning and I encouraged her to transcribe our collective thoughts into words. I welcome anyone’s thoughts regarding the issue of how to become ‘more like Jesus’.
If we don’t know the reality of Christ living his life in us, AS us, then we resort to thinking that we need to copy Jesus. WWJD (what would Jesus do)? Cultivate the good, suppress the bad. Constantly ask forgiveness for the sins of the flesh (jealousy, envy, malice, etc.) because these character flaws are not ‘Christ-like’. Continually strive, try to be good, be ever mindful that we have a loooong way to go before we can attain the desired goal of becoming ‘more like Jesus’.
However, if we live our lives trying to be like Jesus, we subject ourselves to endless frustration. And, if we’re honest, most of us have to admit varying degrees of resentment because what we’re being asked to do is impossible, and deep down we know it. Be ‘like Jesus’? Come on, now! Let’s get real – he had somewhat of an advantage, did he not? After all, he was the son of God, God in the flesh! In comparison, we are mere mortals who struggle with sin in the flesh!
If we live according to the precept that we must be like Jesus, we commit a serious error, because to do so dictates that we try to live a ‘Christian’ life based on our performance: do good, get good – do bad, get bad. But performance-based living is nothing but religion. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with LIFE!
The problem is, there will always be those who perform very well. They seem to be able to contend admirably with sin/flesh issues. They are the ones who get held up as examples of how to be ‘like Jesus’. They’re considered well-adjusted. Often, they become leaders instructing the rest of us schmucks on how to live victorious lives. And for those of us who desire to be in leadership, but whose ‘character hasn’t caught up with our calling’, well…close, but no cigar.
The truth is, these individuals have become blinded to the fact that sheer good performance or godly living is the goal. The tragedy is, they can live their entire lives dreadfully deluded, because if anyone can be considered holy by their right living, why did Jesus have to die on the cross for our sins?
What was needed was for the life of the sinless son of God to inhabit us – for him to reside within our spirits, living his life IN us, AS us. “It is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me”. This is the most liberating truth conceivable, because I can now give up trying so blasted hard to be ‘good’. Why? Because what God desires is for me to become mature! There’s a vast difference there! The former is based on fleshly arrogance that convinces me that my self-righteous works are enough to garner me favour with God. The latter is based on total submission to allowing Jesus to manifest his life through me. I no longer need to strive. I no longer need to perform. I only need to rest – rest in the fact that the work that Jesus started in me, he is able to bring to perfect fruition.
What this means is that instead of facing each day trying to be mindful of how I behave, I can anticipate, with excitement, daily learning to hear his voice guiding and leading me: Jesus in me greeting the supermarket cashier by name with a smile, Jesus in me encouraging a lonely teenager, Jesus in me speaking a word of life to someone struggling with depression. When I can begin to see how Jesus is reaching out to a lost and dying world through, not despite, my distinct, unique personality, and when I begin to hear his words infiltrate my thoughts directing me to do thus and so, or to go here or there is the day that I begin to grow spiritually to the extent that with the passage of time, who I am is indistinguishable from the life of the Son of God who resides within me.
Bottom line is, when I, Margo was born, was I trying to become more Margo-like? When I became born-again, with Jesus’ life indwelling my spirit, (‘it is no longer I that live, but Christ’) why do I need to strive to become more Christ-like? To sum up: am I learning to live out who and Whose I am, or am I trying to become someone I will never be?
Margi
Richard'z Rantz 