Monday, March 24, 2014
384 - Christ-Like? That's a Long Shot
Spirituality Column #384
March 25, 2014
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) ponders “What Would Jesus Do?” and answers, “Things that I cannot.”
March 25, 2014
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville
Christ-Like? That’s a
Long-Shot
By Bob Walters
A laudable
objective among Bible-reading, boots-on-the-ground Christians is to be “Christ-like.”
Let me play
the ecclesial heretic a moment and wonder aloud, “Is that really what we’re
shooting for – to be “like Christ”?
There’s a reason I’m asking.
Jesus Christ
is fully God and fully human. Hebrews 1:3
tells us Jesus is the “full radiance and the exact representation of God.” Hebrews 2:17 tells us Jesus was made “fully
human in every way.” In John 14:6 Jesus
tells the doubtful disciple Thomas, “I am the way and the truth and the
life. No one comes to the father except
through me.” In 14:9 Jesus tells Peter,
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”
Peter repeatedly calls Jesus Christ “Lord and Savior” (2 Peter).
That
sounds well above the pay-grade of any other human I have ever heard of, met …
or seen in the mirror.
In John 14,
Jesus proclaims that those who believe in Him will “do the works I have been
doing” (verse 12). That sort of says “be
like me,” or “be Christ-like.” But Jesus
goes on to describe man being obedient to Him, answering man’s prayers, bringing
the Spirit of truth into the world, glorifying God, preparing a place for man in
Heaven, and “doing exactly what my Father has commanded me” (verse 31), etc.
I can’t do
any of that. I can’t even be “like”
that. All I can do, and then only with
the abiding, merciful help of the Holy Spirit, is know that Jesus is the Truth
and is telling the truth about who He is, what He is doing, and what He wants
us to do. Oh … and love God, love others,
and share Christ’s message. That’s where
the Apostle Paul seems a more apt behavior model; we have a shot at being like Paul.
Paul’s life
and ministry are chronicled in the Book of Acts, wherein Saul the
Christian-persecuting Pharisee encounters the ascended Christ and becomes Paul
the fervent, humble, self-denying, courageous and obedient Apostle of
Christ. Paul’s 13 faithful letters to
churches, communities, and friends comprise the instructive bulk of the New
Testament.
The Apostle
Paul got it: Jesus didn’t say “Be me,” Jesus said, “Follow me." Paul did the work of Christ – i.e., spread
the message of salvation – understanding he was a follower of Christ, not the
Glory of Christ. He knew all glory is
God’s, not ours.
This is not to suggest we lower our
eternal sights away from the sinless Jesus and divine Christ, but to improve
our spiritual aim by emulating the obedient Paul.
That is what “Christ-like” looks
like.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) ponders “What Would Jesus Do?” and answers, “Things that I cannot.”
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