Jesus

11/07/2008

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live,
but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20 (NLT)

How many of us want to be more like Jesus? How many of us even know what that would look like? What was Jesus really like? What did He think about, what did He do, what were His personality traits in addition to what we have read in Scripture? In John 21:25, it says, “Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.” What were those things? Will we ever know? Maybe when we get to Heaven we’ll see the whole, clear picture of just Who Jesus is and what He accomplished on earth because then we’ll be able to walk with Him and talk with Him, getting to know Him so well. Until that time…what do we have? Scripture, for sure. And prayer, and also others who have Christ living in them modeling His life as Paul did.

What were Jesus’ personality and habits? We know that Jesus was at peace, we know that from Scripture. Jesus knew Who He was, we know that to be true also. Jesus did not have to worry about what He wore; He was the Maker of all things. Jesus knew what He had come to earth to accomplish, and when that time would come…but according to others, He may have seemed to be lacking the gumption to get the job done! They might have thought He needed to get out there and do something, and to be more concerned about the things of this world! To act differently! I think Jesus was acting differently, differently than most of us act, because He was no act, He was real to the core! All that He did was pure and right, and timely.

Maybe too many times we think we need to stay and “seal the deal” when we’re talking about the things of God. Perhaps the best thing we can do is to be more like Jesus and leave our listeners for awhile, and pray… I think those around Jesus were more eager to follow Him because He didn’t force the issues, but merely conveyed Truth with confidence. Jesus was probably so calm that it stumped those around Him. Can we, on this day, remain so calm? It’s hard, isn’t it! But God is patient, and He encourages us to let His fruit grow, trusting our Father to seal the deal in His timing and in His way. It’s all about our Lord, not about us!

It’s the presence of God that draws people to Him, just as Jesus drew the people to Himself. If we’re just talking of our own accord, then our words are no weightier than the next guy’s. But when what we are talking about is God’s Truth, what’s written in Scripture (and we need to know what’s there), it’s not that we’ll convince all those we share it with that it is the Truth, but that deep in our hearts we know it is, and we stand confidently on it without wavering. No matter what the issue, Jesus remained calm, loving and confident because He was always able to see the bigger picture…which included His Father’s plan for our redemption and eternal life where sin, greed, and fighting would be no more. Jesus lived the perfect submitted life to His Father on earth. No one can do it exactly like Jesus did, but we can and should give Him our all each day.