Choosing to be like Jesus
We have all experienced it. We just heard an amazing sermon at church about being the light of Christ, and, ten minutes later, we’re trying to exit the church parking lot. We’ve got a ‘tude about the traffic and getting to our lunch date on time. We might even forget about using our car’s turn signal AND our driving manners are less than “holy”!
My hand is up. I am not exactly a patient driver. I have places to go and things to do. I have been accused (and rightly so), of not being patient enough and cautious enough with my driving. Okay, I might qualify as one of those who needs to calm down and exercise more patience.
That’s one of the reasons why I love Jesus and need His character in my life. Watching “The Chosen” series and Jonathan Roumie who plays Jesus in it, has put somewhat of a face and personality and character to the desire to be even more like our REAL Jesus.
In “The Chosen” and in God’s Word, Jesus doesn’t forget how to act under pressure. In fact, Jesus’ life, that we read about in scripture embodies how we should be living our faith. He had just finished a very long sermon (Luke 6) when He was approached by a centurion asking for a miracle for his servant.
If that were me, I would be thinking, “Guys, I JUST finished giving a big sermon. I am hungry. I am tired. I need to decompress. Please email me, and I will get to this when I feel up for it.” Yet, Jesus practices what He taught only moments before. He recognizes the profound faith of the centurion, and the servant is healed. Jesus is faithful to His Word.
We know Jesus was fully human and fully divine, and He had been speaking in that hot sun all day. He was being asked to go beyond His physical discomfort. And He did just that. The questions is, when we are asked to go beyond our comfort zone, do we say “yes”?
And then, when we ask our Lord again, and again, using those exact words of the centurion “Lord, please help!”, does He listen to us? Yes, we know He does.
But after we are dismissed from our church service and are in the long line of cars that are exiting, how do we live out what we just experienced? How do we share Jesus’ love as His followers in the long line at the grocery store? How do we handle THAT phone call coming in from a friend who we know they need a friend to bear their broken heart to?
How could we do less than our Savior Who never turned His back on someone in need or someone who needs encouragement. I never want to tire of learning my lessons well and following Jesus’ example, so I’ll make this song my prayer today.
“Make me more like You, Jesus.
Make me more like You.
Give me a heart that’s filled with love.
And make me more like You.”
I want to never tire of living out the Gospel. When Jesus was asked to go beyond His physical discomfort, He chose to go. “Me, too, is my prayer!”