The right answer, the only answer . . .

A little joke once went around Sunday Schools that if you didn’t know the answer to the teacher’s question, say “Jesus” and you would likely be correct.

All joking aside, Jesus is the focus, the answer. When I sin, He is my need and solution. When I fall short of love and obedience, He is at work to perfect me. In all of life, I’m to be like Jesus . . .

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1 John 2:1–6)

Being like Jesus isn’t easy. If I am kind and compassionate, tossing the money-changers out of the temple seems so contrary. If I am strongly against sin, then forgiving someone caught in sin runs against my concept of a holy and just God. Obviously, this is reason to focus on Jesus. Otherwise I may do what comes easy rather than obey the Spirit of God especially when His guidance does not make sense to me.

I can recall dozens of times when this happened. We were trying to rent a certain house by phone in another city. The house was rented to someone else. The Spirit insisted we call again. We moved in about a month later.

In Alaska, my hubby (often a spokesperson for the Holy Spirit) told me to call a store about a coat we saw on sale. I didn’t want to because the flyer said it would be. However, I obeyed and was assured it would have that lower price. But when I got there, it was marked back up at full price. I said, “But I called . . .” and was given the needed jacket at the sale price.

The problem with strong personal convictions or tendencies is that obeying Jesus can sometimes seem the wrong thing to do. When someone needs a hug and I want to give them a tongue-lashing or when someone needs a sharp rebuke and I give them a hug. When someone needs encouragement to move forward and I want to advise them to wait, or when someone needs to wait, and I tell them to go for it.

Being like Jesus requires at least these two things: keeping short accounts and being obedient. Short accounts means to quickly admit sin and rely on the Advocate to clear things with my Father. Without the intercessory work of Jesus, I have no access to the throne of God.

Obedience keeps me there. It keeps me in tune with what God is doing. He keeps me up-to-speed, so I can both hear and obey wherever I fit into His plans. Without Jesus, I cannot hear God. I cannot love Him or love others. I cannot ever care about His will. All of that comes from Jesus Christ who lives in me.

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Jesus, You are all that I need. Being like You is certainly challenging, yet You are so powerful and so good that there is hope, even for me:

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1 John 3:1–3)

Running the race . . .

Last week I wrote of sin being like a dog hanging on to my pant leg hoping to bite me, trip me, or persuade me to play with him. Now that I think about it a bit more, this is what Satan does also. He wants to hurt me so I will not pray, or cause me to stumble so I will not reach God’s goals for me, or get me so preoccupied with his tricks that my spiritual life takes a nose dive. These verses are a big encouragement to kick off that dog . . .

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” (Hebrews 12:1–4)

The witnesses are those who have gone before me, enduring or surviving their trials by faith. Yet instead of focusing on the challenges, or even on the victories of these witnesses, I am to look to Jesus. The faith of others is helpful, but Jesus is my Savior, the founder and perfecter of my faith.

How did He triumph over the enemy? He refused to sin and instead “became sin for us” and died in my place. I am not a Savior who dies for others, but I can reject sin and endure whatever trials God allows in my life. If I consider or think carefully about Jesus and how He lived and died, I do not become tired or discouraged in my battle.

Considering Jesus helps me to also think about the result of His obedience, that joy set before Him. As I run my race, I need to keep my eyes on the finish line with the utmost assurance that nothing will keep me from reaching it, not even that pesky dog. He does his best, but Jesus has already taken care of his fate.

More about dogs; Chinese martyr Watchman Nee said being a Christian is like having two dogs fighting inside of Him. When asked which one was winning, he replied, “The one I feed the most.” Good advice.

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Jesus, I know that I must keep my mind focused on You for the ability to run well and to fight off the dogs. I need to take in Your Word and let it feed the new nature You have given me. I need to starve the old nature by putting it off and refusing to do what it wants to do. These are the desires You have put in my heart. Enable me to be fruitful and run with endurance the race set before me.

Unity in diversity!

The older I get, the more I realize the importance of each body part. A sore toe can ruin a planned walk. A cut finger can slow accomplishments to a crawl. A headache affects everything, as does an irregular heartbeat. These realities help me understand why Paul used the human body as a metaphor for the church.

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ . . . For the body does not consist of one member but of many.” (1 Corinthians 12:12; 14)

The amazing thing is that even though we are diverse, the Holy Spirit brings unity. No matter how many ways I am different from another Christian, we still can fellowship together. As Tozer writes, “God makes all of us different from one another, but by His Spirit He will bring divine illumination and power to our beings. It is God’s planned variety and not similarity that makes beauty and interest in our world.”

While I’m thankful for my individuality and not try to copy others that I admire, there are some characteristics of the Christian life that I could imitate in other believers.

For instance, one young friend is more gentle and positive in attitude than I have ever been. I could learn from her, even imitate her. Another is logical in thought and humble in heart. I could imitate him. My husband is cool-headed in any crisis and knows how to calm others when there is conflict. I could do better by being more like him.

All of us need to be the same in loving God and putting Him first. We need to all hate sin and be quick to obey God as He leads us. Yet we must always be ourselves.

“If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? . . . . The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (1 Corinthians 12:15-17; 21–26)

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Jesus, the next time one of my body parts acts up or does not work properly can be a reminder to pray for those in the Body of Christ who are ill, over-burdened, in trouble, or not walking with You. What happens to one of us affects all of us. When all is well, also remind me to daily show concern for those who need prayer and care.