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.
^^^^^^^^^^^^
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)
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