Trying to be like Jesus!

I heard a pastor recently speak about how hard it is for him to stay in alignment with God and the extreme measures he takes to overcome living through His emotions.

This got me thinking about this subject. I read a couple books in the New Testament looking for spiritual solutions and this revelation came to me.

To preface this narrative I love the word of God and live in the scriptures. I am in no way demeaning the authors of the Bible.

The Bible spends a great deal of time explaining the appearance and conduct of a Christ follower but tends to neglect how you and I can reach the goal of becoming a man or woman of God.

The Bible contains a long list of don’ts but the problem is we are a people who enjoy the don’ts and have no ability to resist the desires of our flesh. We end up doing exactly what we don’t want to do.

The reality of salvation is you will never match up to the standards of God regardless of how hard you try. So why even try!

God has to do the surgical work to enable you live a life pleasing to Him.

Jesus speaks to the core of this problem by explaining you have to be born again of the Spirit and Water.

This is a transformation from your natural life to the life of Christ.

Salvation is a work in progress and you will never come close to perfection here on earth.

The first step is to make a decision for Jesus. This is relatively easy.

Jesus teaches His righteousness will come to those who walk by faith believing in the promises of God. The caveat is you must also listen to the voice of God and obey His instructions.

This is more difficult because now you must take the time to pray, study the Bible and listen for the voice of God. And, the instructions of God may not make any sense to you or follow any logical pattern. So now you are like the blind leading the blind.

The obedience required of a Christ follower defies human logic. Most believers resist this kind of loyalty. It is too costly and too great a sacrifice.

However, if you want to be “Christ like” you have to walk by faith and not by what you see with your eyes. Obedience is complying with God without resistance or compromise.

If you do these things God will build a new nature inside you and then it is your responsibility to live under the authority of the Holy Spirit.

The natural life will still be inside you but the Christ follower operates under the power of the Holy Spirit who is sealed within him.

Then it becomes much easier to comply with the don’ts because God is in charge!