Imitators of God

I visited a church recently where the Sunday school teacher exhorted us all that since we were Christians we should "act like it". I wasn't at all intimated nor was I moved to action by those words since I had already concluded that acting like Jesus was an impossibility. Besides, we already have His righteousness, there's no point getting all worked up about trying to look like Him. No one can really, you know, look like Jesus. So I tidily categorized my teacher brother as unenlightened and went on my way. I had already blogged about this a few weeks ago and decided to remove the blog since I wasn't sure how I really felt about it. I wanted to have more insight into this whole idea of “looking like Jesus”. I’m glad I waited to re-post. I think I’ve learned something about this that I’d like to share with you. I will re-post the original (unedited) post entitled, “We Wish to See Jesus” at the end of this posting. I’m doing that because it’s an honest account of my thoughts at that time. I think we all go through times of trying to figure this walk out. That’s what this is about. I’ve pretty much come full circle on this subject. It’s not the first time, and it probably won’t be the last. I believe the reason we have at times this crazy idea that we can actually become sinless is because we already are sinless in Christ and we yearn to see the reality of that manifested here on earth. Which is why Jesus gave us the model prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. So as crazy as it sounds, I still believe that we can live sinless lives here on earth, now. And I’m OK with actually believing it even though it seems impossible at the moment. Isn’t that what faith is? The trick is trusting Him to take me through it, in His time, in His patient, loving, merciful, sympathetic, forgiving, compassionate, faithful time. And in spite of myself!


Now, on to a lighter side of this subject. When some of us hear that we are to be “imitators of God”, we receive that exhortation something like this:

But when we hear the entire exhortation of, “Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children.” we lighten up a bit…

I realized when I read this verse recently (Ephesians 5:1) that children love to act like their parents. If you don’t believe me, take a look for yourselves…





Some children even like to act like their grandparents…

Some kids want to be imitators so much that they’re mesmerized by their parents…





As Christians reflecting the image of our Heavenly Father, we begin to see how important it is to be good role models for our children…

To inspire them to become like us…






To fight the good fight…




Before you know it, we actually begin to look like Jesus. Without even trying, without even noticing…

OK, so here's my original post about looking like Jesus. It's a bit raw, but honest...I'm better now...

We wish to see Jesus
I'm thinking of buying a Jesus outfit. Sandals, a brownish white robe with a rope around my waist, a dark beard and matching wig for my balding head. The only accoutrement would be a whip of cords, mostly for looks, but in hopes that I could show a display of righteous indignation at the opportune time.

Do you know anyone, ANYONE, who looks like Jesus? This question shook me to my core this morning while driving my truck home. It terrified me. Because I'm over fifty years old and I've never met anyone that actually looks like what I'm trying to look like, and what I've spent my entire Christian life trying to look like. Where did I get this idea from? How ludicrous it is that I have thought all this time that I would be the only man in my generation that would actually figure this thing out. I must have thought this. How else can you explain the fact that I was striving for something I've never seen in anyone else? I have imagined that I would reach this level of holiness in my life that I would be able to communicate to others and that they too would arrive, benefitting from my journey. I would save them years of frustrating defeats and disappointments. Yes, I have believed in the eventual sinless perfection of a human being. And although my understanding and belief in God's grace prevented me from burdening others (I hope) with this belief, I have carried it for all of my saved years. To be fair to myself, there have been moments when I consciously recognized the folly of this thinking. But the belief of sinless perfection has remained anchored deep within my soul. I believe the question posed to me this morning was from God Himself. And I'm on a continuing journey with Him for the answer.

We are being conformed to His image. We have the gift of His righteousness as our very own. We have the sinless perfection of Christ’s life (His Spirit) in us as God’s children. We are blessed with EVERY spiritual blessing in Christ. We are holy children of God.

Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.
Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying,

"Sir, we wish to see Jesus."

Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.
But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.
Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.
He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. John 12:20-25

Your thoughts?

The Rest

"There remains therefore a rest to the people of God." Hebrews 4:9
In the journey of struggle, our destination is the promised place of rest. This promise is for here and now on earth. Just as real and certain as is our eternal salvation, so is our eternal sanctification. There is a place of rest for the people of God. Rest from the struggle. This place of rest is found only through the Cross. The place where sin and self were dealt with. The place where we 'know' we are holy and righteous, not because of our conquest of victory, but because He conquered sin on our behalf and has given us the gift of His righteousness. The place where all effort to obtain perfection is abandoned in light of the truth that He has perfected us already in Christ. As we rest in Him, He manifests Himself through us in our daily lives. One of the ways that others will notice we have found our resting place is when the humility of Christ becomes evident in our lives, when they perceive that we love and serve them in ways we hadn't before. The good news is that He is ever leading us in this journey. He is accomplishing a transformation in our lives that only He can perform. And He does it through our struggles. When we see that we don't love as well as we should, we will struggle (labor) to love better. We will work hard at it but to no avail. This is a painful but necessary part of our journey. It is the only way that we will begin to see our need of Him to love through us. We learn that He is faithful to do it, He is faithful to complete it. He can be trusted. This is the journey, this is the rest.
"Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest," Hebrews 4:11

The Struggle

I was saddened to learn of Jennifer Knapp's recent "coming out" in an article from Christianity Today and other sources (the Larry King interview was particularly enlightening). I have prayed for Jennifer over the years since she disappeared from the public eye. I'm still praying for her. I have always viewed her as a fellow struggler. Her music has always spoken to me that way. It still does, even her new material. I purchased her recent CD (Letting Go) just prior to discovering the disappointing news about her. Since then, I have been doing some serious soul searching with regards to struggling. God has us on this journey of self discovery and the way we learn of self is through failure and defeat. It's painful, sometimes even to those around us. But it is the only way we really begin to understand the power of the self life and what He's done for us through His cross to deliver us from it. If we will humble ourselves in our failures and learn from Him, He will show us the way to freedom. This struggle with self is relentless and defies every syllable of truth ever spoken by God to us. Sometimes we become bitter in this fight. We become angry at God and others around us. We become angry at ourselves and our loved ones. But somehow, we always return to our Father, and He washes us clean and softens are hearts again. I honestly don’t know how it is that I haven’t given up the fight, but I haven’t. And I’m unspeakably thankful for that. I know now that the struggles produce a hunger for Him that I would otherwise not have. Over the years, I have seen God deliver me from one form of bondage after another. Every victory has been borne out of struggle.

I almost decided to throw away Jennifer’s new CD. But I’ll keep it for two reasons; because I still hear her struggles and because I still hold hope for her to be restored to her Father, whom she knows – but seems to have forgotten. He hasn’t forgotten her, nor has He “Let Go” of her. And He never will.

Explanation

The scripture references below won't make sense unless you had previously read the now deleted content from those postings. My comments were rather negative towards the media in both blogs and I decided that too much negativity really just doesn't help matters. I don't want to become one of those old men who spend all their time complaining about things and I found myself heading in that direction. I figure Jesus might like this approach better, so that's what I'm going with.

BP, the Media and Me

1 Peter 4:8
1 Cor 12:31

Money, Morality and Mercy

1 Cor 13:4

The Refuge

It was almost nightfall by the time they reached the top. They unpacked their things and built a fire before settling in for the night. Stories were told around the fire and laughter filled the cool night air. Finally, someone asked, "So what are we going to do in the morning?". Eva thought for a moment, smiled and said, "We're going to change the course of history". Then she turned in her sleeping bag, covered her head and said, Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite." And they did. And they didn't.

Grandchildren

Grandchildren are grand. That's where the word came from you know. The word "grand", I mean. There used not to be the word "grand" until grandchildren came along. Then people started using it for other things like Grand Piano, Grand Canyon, and Grand Prix. They even made a movie entitled, "Gran Torino" (which, by the way, was a grand movie). I love my grandchildren. Welcome Oliver, into this grand world of God's.