To Be Like Jesus

To be a Christian means to be a follower of Jesus, to accept Him as Master and to try to be like Him as a disciple. We are to live by the precepts of His teachings, and also to follow His very way of life.

Christlikeness is an amazing concept. it has always been a principal message of the Body of Christ. We are not our own, we are bought with a price. We cannot live like we want to live, go where we want to go, do what we want to do, say whatever we want to say, and dress however we want to dress. We are not to be whatever we choose to be; we are to choose to be like Jesus.

We even sing, “To be like Jesus, to be like Jesus, on earth I long, to be like Him…” Romans 8:29 states that salvation is to shape us into the image of Christ.

The entire plan of God in your life, developed in eternity past, and being worked in you now, and which will be completed in future glory, is focused in one concept: God the Father intends to make you like Jesus Christ.

In Galatians 4:19, Paul said that he travailed to see Christ formed in the believers. And in Colossians 1:28-29, he wrote to the believers to remind them that he labored and strove to present them perfect in Christ. It was hard work, but important to their salvation.

Not only Paul, but all the leaders of the Body of Christ in the New Testament worked hard to convince the believers that they must surrender their own will and prerogatives, and live like Jesus lived, and walk like Jesus walked. It is no different for the saved of our day.

The apostle John made this important statement in 1 John 2:6: “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” This is a powerful statement of the divine moral imperative to live as Jesus lived.

If any person claims to have a relationship with Jesus, if he or she claims to be saved, then that person is to be a Christ-follower. This means that he or she is morally bound to “walk” as Jesus walked. in the New Testament, the word “walk” is used to mean to “live a certain way of life.” See Mark 7:5; Romans 6:4; 8:1; etc. We may not be able to completely imitate every detail of the walk of Jesus, but we are to strive to live according to the principles he lived by. Some of these principles include meekness, gentleness, care for others, self-denial, and so many more.

How did Jesus walk? The answer, primarily, is in the four Gospels. When did you last read them? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John should be read over and over by every child of God. They tell the greatest story ever told. They describe the life and teaching of our Lord, our Savior, our friend. Read the Gospels. And as you read them, study them with the question in mind, “How did Jesus live?”

This is more than just what He taught. He was the embodiment of His teachings. he was the teacher and the lesson. He was the messenger and the message. Jesus lived what He talked about.

We must understand both the message and the walk of Jesus if we are to be His disciples. perhaps a better word would be “apprentices.” We are in a training program, and when we learn our lessons, we will be like our teacher. Becoming a disciple is not just Christian indoctrination (so we can get the answers right), it is to be a transformation to make us Christ-like.

Jesus not only taught; He prayed, fasted, meditated in solitude, and served others. Shouldn’t we be like that? Becoming like Jesus is the heart of the New Testament message and the work of the church. We are told in 1 Peter 2:21 that Christ left us an example, that we should follow in His steps. And Jesus, Himself, said, “I’m your example; do as I have done.” See John 13:15.