LIVING A LIFE JUST LIKE JESUS

Living A Life Just Like Jesus

by Pastor Mark Taylor

We try to lead our children in a way that will give them the opportunity to live a happy and successful life.  This is what God wants for us.  He wants to protect us from getting hurt as we walk through this difficult and dangerous world.  He has sent His Son to show us how to live this type of life.  

Some may think that living a life like our Lord Jesus Christ would be impossible.  I would like to remind you of what our Lord said about the impossible. “Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." (Mark 9:23).  It is true that we cannot live a sinless life like our Lord did because He was God. “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15).  But we can certainly live a life with less sin.  God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way.  He wants you to be just like Jesus.  “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).  Let us look at some ways we can live a “life just like Jesus”.  

Live like Jesus by loving the people that God has given you to live with and work with.  “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.” (Colossians 3:12-13).  Our Lord Jesus knew the feeling of being around the same crew for three years.  They rode in the same boats and walked the same roads and visited the same houses.  He even knew their private doubts and unspoken thoughts.  But Jesus was able to love His disciples.   “So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? "You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.”    (John 13:12-14).  Grace is the key to being like Jesus.  Relationships don’t get better because the guilty are punished, but because the innocent are merciful.  Certain conflicts can only be resolved with someone humbling themselves and showing grace.

Live like Jesus by being willing to use your hands to be the hand of God touching those in need.  “When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” (Matthew 8:1-3).  This man needed a touch from God.  The divorced know this feeling and so do the handicapped.  The unemployed and unmarried moms also need a touch from God.  Those in nursing homes, addiction centers, and prisons are the lonely lives that have been rejected by society.  But Jesus wants to use you to be His hands and feet to touch others.

Live like Jesus by spending time with your Heavenly Father. Jesus said 16 times “"He who has ears to hear, let him hear! (Matthew 11:15).  If we are to be just like Jesus,we are going to have to have ears that hear God’s voice.  Our Lord spent a lot of personal time in both talking and listening to His Father.  “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.”  (Mark 1:35).  If we are going to be just like Jesus, we must have a regular time of talking to God and listening to His Word.  “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice.”  (Psalms 55:17).  “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  (Romans 10:17).

Live like Jesus by being led by God’s Holy Spirit and His unseen hand.   Clearly, our Lord Jesus Christ did not act unless He was guided by His Father.  “Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.”  (John 5:19).  

God desires the same for us today as he did for the Lord Jesus Christ.  He wants you to be just like Jesus and He want the same relationship and love with you that He had with His precious Son.  “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”  (Romans 8:28-32).  God’s relationship with us about loving us, helping us, and giving to us all that we need.

What incredibly good news for us.  We are never away from God and He is never away from us, not even for a moment.  “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8:35-39).