What does it mean to be like Jesus?

1 John 2:6 says we are to walk as Jesus walked

Romans says we are to be conformed to his image

Well, I’m born again, doesn’t that do the trick?

No. 

Just like a baby is born naturally and you can see some of its features favor his parents,  but it’s not grown yet and its features haven’t fully developed, so are we when we are born again. 

There are family resemblances, but there’s lots of growth and maturity that must happen in us before we truly resemble Jesus. 

But consider this:

 from the moment Jesus was born in that little sheepfold, every step he took was aimed straight for Calvary. 

When his parents cheered as he learned to crawl, he was crawling towards those crisscrossed beams. 

When Mary marveled as he learned to walk, he was walking towards a hill he’d carry a cross up one day. 

As he learned to talk, it was so he could teach thousands one day. 

When he worked in Joseph’s building business, it was so he could learn how to take the raw materials of a messed up life and make something beautiful and useful out of it. 

When childhood friends and family made fun of him, it was so he could learn to accept later rejections. 

The scripture says he learned obedience by his suffering (Hebrews 5:8)

Why?

Because Jesus was born to die! And Calvary was the ultimate act of obedience!

We were born again to die. (Johnny 12:24)

And in that death he wants us to bear much fruit!

And scripture says his goal for us is to conform us to his image! Romans 12:1-2

How?

Share his mission- he came to seek and to save that which was lost. 

Jesus came to die- we are to die to ourselves 

We want our comfort zones, Jesus wants to send us out as sheep among wolves (mt 10:16). That’s not comfortable. That’s not even a safe space. 

We want the best of things because we’re a kings kid and we deserve it. Yet, Jesus himself said he didn’t have a place of his own to lay his head. He didn’t ride a horse or in a chariot. He walked among the dung of other people’s horses as he traveled the roads to save mens souls. 

And here’s the warning if we want to be like him:

Jesus gained many scars in the process of completing his mission

• disciples left him when the teachings got tough
• Family didn’t accept who he was till after he died (except Mary)
• Religious leaders mocked, debated, plotted and prayed against him, and eventually had him killed and mocked him while he was in anguish 
• One of his closest friends denied he even knew him during his suffering- another betrayed him
• Isaiah says his visage was marred more than any man. In several places he wasn’t recognized because of this - after his resurrection (Mary at the tomb didn’t recognize him from his appearance. She only knew him by his voice. The apostles on the road to emmaus didn’t recognize him until he broke the bread). Jesus scars were so deep from his ordeal that Thomas was able to put his hand inside of Jesus side and fingers in his hands. 
• The pain was gone, but the scars were there. The resurrection healed the wounds but left the scars. 

If we are to be like him, we must pray like him. Through that we must take his mission as our own. 

Philippians 2:5

And we do this knowing that it’s going to hurt. Friends will deny and betray us. Family will reject us. Religious leaders will reject, ridicule, and try to destroy us. 

Jesus went through what we would consider to be hell on earth. 

But at the end of his mission on earth, Jesus was changed, glorified, and received up into glory-with his scars. And a church -his bride- was in the birth canal awaiting his spirit to birth it 10 days later. 

If we will let him complete his mission through us, 

• we will be unrecognizable to those who once knew us best, thank God!
• We will be changed from the inside out. 
• But the lives he used us to touch will be forever changed too.
• And we, like Jesus, will be received up into glory! and we will hear him say “well done.”

It’ll be worth it all one day!

No more tears! No more trials! No more suffering and struggling! 

But the best part of it is we’ll be with him forever!

Isn’t that worth the price of admission?

The scripture says that he did all that he did-endured all that he suffered- in order to gain “the prize that was set before him.”

That needs to be our attitude! 

Whatever I must suffer, however many heartaches I gain, whoever betrays me, 

Roman’s 8:18

He didn’t say the glory that shall be revealed TO us. 

Oh no!

He said for the glory that SHALL BE revealed IN us!

Christ in me the hope of GLORY!

The glory cloud is God’s manifested presence! 

One day, if we suffer and let him use our circumstances, struggles, betrayals, and trials- let him use our wounds to conform us into his image!

Then HE will be manifested in our ministries, our lives, and IN us!

Isn’t that worth dying for?

Chasing greatness

Chasing greatness 

1 Corinthians 9: 25-27

Saw a guy in Walmart who’s T-shirt caught my attention. It read “chasing greatness.”

Inspiration can come from the strangest places. Even a Tshirt. 

Our culture is obsessed with attaining greatness. 

Even trump. What does maga mean?

We want to be the greatest, or put another way, the best at whatever we’re doing. 

Restaurants claim to serve the best (greatest) food.

Auto manufacturers claim to have the best (greatest) vehicles. 

Politicians claim to have the best (greatest) ideas to fix whatever ills their opponents surely caused. 

Sports over the last decade or so have coined a new anachronism: GOAT. 

It means “greatest of all time.” 

People argue, cuss, and fight over all these things and more. 

Paul gives a few points to us Christians who wish (to use an old slogan) to be all that we can be for Jesus. 

1 Corinthians 9: 25-27 “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

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‭When I first went into the army, I could run, but I had no idea how to properly breathe and pace myself. So consequently when I ran, my breathing would get so heavy that I just couldn’t keep going. I’d have to stop and catch my breath. 

Of course the drill sergeants couldn’t have that so they’d make the whole platoon circle back to pick up us stragglers. 

This added unnecessary steps and distance to my fellow soldiers and did not make me popular among them. I was making life harder for them in an already hard situation. 

Some would say that they shouldn’t have to go back for the stragglers. Because why should they have to put forth the extra effort for those that lagged behind?

But the drill sergeant’s understood 2 important things. 

1. every soldier is valuable and brings different strengths and weaknesses to the table. And the strong runners could one day be saved by the weak runners who may be able to shoot better than or patch up the wounded good runners. So if the weak ones fall out, you go back for them. No soldier left behind. And 
2. The battle is won together. The battle is very seldom won by one soldier. It’s a group effort made up of every soldier doing their part. So they came back for us.

Finally, a young drill sergeant took me to the side after watching me and explained that I had to control my breathing while I ran. 

If I ran counting my steps, breathing in for a few steps and then out a few steps. Kept the process going, then my lungs would strengthen and my body would respond. 

I tried it and never fell out of a run again. I may have fallen out of the formation for a while thereafter, but I didn’t stop running. They didn’t find me on the roadside breathing hard. 

They found me still running. 

Maybe a little slower than them. But running. 

And their attitudes changed towards me. I was running. I was working at it. I was trying. 

Eventually I got to where I could run with them and not fall out of formation. 

In the future for a time, I got to where I was running 5 miles a day: on my own. Just because I had mastered it to a degree and enjoyed doing it. 

Spiritually, we are in this thing together. We’re not lone wolves. We’re not alone. 

And we go to heaven together, or to hell alone. 

So if we, or one of us, stumbles or falls, we are supposed to circle back and get them we’re supposed to pick them up and help them make it. We’re supposed to teach them how to properly run this race. 

Not ridicule, make fun of, or slander. 

Paul said he had run the race and fought a good fight. 

He learned how to control his body and make it do what needed to be done whether it wanted to do it or not. 

He forced it to give up certain things and to strive for heavenly things in order to attain the high calling of God!

1 Corinthians 6: 12 

“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”

Marathon runners train for the marathon. They pay attention to what they put into their bodies. They don’t eat a lot of junk food or drink a lot of sodas or alcohol. 

They give things up that their body enjoys in order that they may finish their race. 

So should we in our race. 

Fried chicken may not technically be bad for the marathon runners. But they don’t eat a lot of it. They control their diet and exercise to accomplish the goal. 

That hobby we have may not be sinful, but if it takes away prayer time, ministry time, bible study time, or family time, then perhaps we need to give up the hobby in the short term in order that we may achieve our long term goal of hearing the Lord say, “well done” and spending eternity with him.

In my youth there was a show called “the wide world of sports.” I used to watch it sometimes. 

On one occasion, they showed a marathon race. In this particular race, two men had been neck and neck, battling for the lead. As they neared the final stretch, one of them suddenly tripped and fell by the wayside. 

The other man had a clear path to victory and all the prestige and fame that would come with it. 

But after a few more steps. The leader stopped. He turned and watched as his fallen competitor kept trying to get up and just finish the race. But he was wounded and couldn’t run on his bleeding leg. So he limped very gently towards the finish line. 

The leader ran to his fallen competitor. Placed himself on the side of his wounded leg, draped his arm over himself. And helped the man finish the race. 

Neither one of the two men who had led the race for several miles would now win the race. Other inferior runners would now win the prizes of the first few finishers. 

But the two men did finish the race- together. 

The stronger man helping the weaker to make the final trek- one grueling limp at a time. 

The former leader had given up his own glory. He’d given up the prize money. He’d given up the prestige. He’d given up the magazine photo shoots and tv interviews he would have gotten had he continued and won the race.

But he did finish the race- helping his fallen and wounded comrade do the same. 

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Galatians 6:9 Do not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap. 

But do you know who the newspapers and magazines and tv stations wanted to interview? Do you know who got the photo ops ? Do you know what the sports anchors showed on the air? 

It wasn’t the ones who won the race. It wasn’t the ones who gained the prize. 

It was the two competitors, now comrades, who had competed so hard against each other, but finished the race together- even though they didn’t win.

At the heart of all we do must be prayer and relationship with Jesus. We get our strength from him. We get our marching orders from him. We get our healing from him. Everything we need is in him. 

The biggest battle we have is not with the devil or demons. They are defeated foes. 

It’s not with other people. We choose whether to let them affect us or not. 

It’s not with governments for if we are born again we belong to the greatest kingdom that controls and defeats all others. 

No our greatest battle is keeping our old man down. 

When we get tired and weary, we must not give into our old comforts. We must press on. Holding onto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith we move forward and keep our body under subjection to his spirit. 

And when we’re ready to throw in the towel and give up, he says “come to me all that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Our rest is not found in chilling out. It’s not found in our comforts. It’s not found in other people. It’s not found in handouts. 

Our rest is found only in Jesus. Just Jesus 

So press on. 

But when you do fail, when you do fall. 

Fall at Jesus feet. 

He will always circle around and come back and get you- if you don’t give up.