A little boy came to his mother one day and said, “Mom I want to be like a tight rope walker in the circus.” “Oh no Son!,” his mother protested “that is far too dangerous and you would be gone all the time.” “I did not mean I wanted to actually walk on a rope or travel in the circus,” the boy replied, “I just want to be “like” a tight rope walker.”
I have heard “I want to be like Jesus,” and for years I have said it myself. But when we say “like,” what do we mean?
What if someone really acted like Jesus?
Consider what we are told about Jesus:
It was never recorded that Jesus asked anyone for money, beyond that, there is no indication He ever even pursued it. He apparently just trusted His father for every meal and everything.
He spoke in parables often with the understanding that His audience would not understand! If that was not enough, He thanked His Father for the fact that they did not understand Him.
He preached about the Kingdom everywhere He went. He never seemed to care about a person’s status in life. He would pass on larger crowds to speak with one person with no reputation.
He spoke openly about sin in peoples’ lives to their face, to those who were in power and those who were not. He also freely forgave people, sometimes when they did not ask for it.
He ate and drank freely with harlots and people of bad reputations. He was accused of being a glutton and alcoholic, a rumor that would end most preachers’ ministries.
He violently confronted those who used religion just to make a profit. He broke temple traditions in public, possibly with that intention.
He laid hands on the sick and healed them, but then told them not to tell anyone.
He said “If anyone comes after me, let him take up his cross and follow me.” When He said this to His disciples they literally “left the nets” and followed Him.
Really....
Literally.....
If Jesus was alive today and acted anything like this, would you follow Him?
Could it be that we do not see everything that Jesus did, because we are afraid to do everything Jesus did?
1 comments:
I like this. I have asked these questions of my self many times. My answer to myself is that I am still too concerned with myself. Are my opinions still too loud to hear what the Father is saying? It is something I repent of and ask the Spirit to bring change. My desire is to live as He lived to Hear the Father and only speak what He says. I know that is possible because Jesus proved it.
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