Like Jesus

I was listening to a sermon this weekend that posed a question that really got me thinking…

“Do I like Jesus, or do I want to be like Jesus?”

To ‘like Jesus’ could include a comfortable life. One where I merely ‘tack him on’ as a sort of extracurricular as I try to live my life as a generally good person while still pursuing my interests, desires, etc. To be like Jesus, I’m afraid, will look radically different.

I think it’s beautiful that Jesus loved the outcasts, the sinners, the ‘hard people’, but am I willing to get dirty in the lives of people who do not know Him?

I am thankful that Jesus laid down his rights, but will I spend my life fighting for and trying to defend mine?

I’m amazed that Jesus’ life on earth was filled with suffering for the joy set before him, but will I spend my life trying to make sure I have a ‘good time’ while I’m here?

“Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” {1 John 2:6}

I want my life to look like Christ. I long for people to see Jesus in me. I know that there is nothing more worthy, more satisfying, more joyful, more life-giving, than to spend everything that I have every day of my life to BE like Jesus. And I know that it is only by the grace of God and power of the Holy Spirit that I will be able to serve joyfully, love sacrificially, be self-forgetting, and willingly submit my will to the Father’s Sovereignty… just like Jesus did.

Much Love,

Mackenzie