Thinking and Acting Like Jesus Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:5; ...Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it... Matthew 11:29 Max Lucado writes: What would your life be like, even for one day, if you were to think and act like Jesus? If His priorities governed your actions, His passions drove your decisions and His love directed your behaviour? What would you be like? Would people notice the change in you? Would your family see something new? Would your co-workers sense a difference? What about the less fortunate; would you treat them like you normally do? How about your friends; would they detect more joy? How about your enemies; would they receive more grace and mercy? And how would it affect you personally? Your mood swings? Your temper? Would you sleep better? Would you view death differently? Would you pay your taxes differently? Any chance youd need fewer aspirins or sedatives? How about your reaction to traffic delays? Or when the deal falls through, or people dont do what you want them to? Would you still dread what you are dreading? Better yet, would you still do what you are doing? Pause and think about your schedule, obligations, engagements, outings and appointments. With Jesus fully in control, would these all change? Keep working on this for a moment. Adjust the lens of your imagination until you have a clear picture of Jesus leading your life, then snap the shutter and frame the image. What you see is what God wants! Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. If you committed to living this way for a lifetime, or a year, or even a month, you would be a transformed person. So just try it for one day: today! If you think Gods love for you would be stronger if your faith was stronger, you are wrong. If you think His love would be deeper if your thoughts and actions were better, you are wrong again. Dont confuse Gods love with peoples love. Their love increases with performance and decreases with mistakes. Not so with Gods love. He loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. Max Lucado writes: When my daughter, Jenna, was a toddler, I used to take her to a park... One day as she was playing in a sandbox, an ice-cream salesman approached us. I purchased her a treat, and when I turned to give it to her, I saw her mouth was full of sand... Did I love her with dirt in her mouth? Absolutely. Was she any less my daughter with dirt in her mouth? Of course not. Was I going to allow her to keep the dirt in her mouth? No way. I carried her over to the water fountain and washed out her mouth. Why? Because I love her. God does the same for us. He holds us over the fountain. Spit out the dirt, honey, our Father urges. Ive got something better for you. And so He cleanses us of filth: immorality, dishonesty, prejudice, bitterness, greed. We dont enjoy the cleansing; sometimes we even opt for the dirt over the ice cream. I can eat dirt if I want to!... Which is true - we can. But if we do, the loss is ours. God has a better offer. He wants us to be just like Jesus. If youre serious about becoming like Jesus, examine your heart, then examine His: 1) His heart was pure. He was cared for by women, yet never accused of lustful thoughts (Luke 8:1-3). Peter, who travelled with Him for three and a half years, described Him as a lamb ...unblemished and spotless... (1Peter 1:19 NAS). John concluded, ...In Him is no sin (1 John 3:5 NIV). 2). His heart was peaceful. His disciples shouted for fear in the storm, but not Jesus. He slept through it (Luke 8:22- 25). Peter drew his sword to fight the soldiers; He lifted His hand to heal (Luke 22:47- 51). When Peter denied Him, did Jesus lose His temper? When the soldiers spat in His face, did He breathe fire in theirs? No, He was at peace. He forgave them. He refused to be guided by vengeance. 3) His heart was purposeful. He could summarise His life with one sentence: The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost (Luke 19:10 RVS). Jesus was so focused that He knew when to say, ...My time has not yet come (John 2:4 NIV) and when to say, ...It is finished... (John 19:30 NIV). But He was not so focused that He was unpleasant. Children couldnt resist Him. He could find beauty in lilies, joy in worship, and possibilities in problems. He could spend His days with multitudes of sick people and still feel sorry for them. He spent over three decades wading through the muck and mire of our sin, yet still saw enough beauty in us to die for our mistakes. And you are called to follow in His steps. The relationship Jesus had with the Father is a prototype of the relationship He wants you to have with Him. Jesus was so intimate with the Father that He could say, ...I am in the Father, and the Father in Me... (John 14:11 TM). Jesus was also intimately acquainted with the Holy Spirit. His first recorded sermon begins with: The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me... (Luke 4:18 NAS). He was ...led by the Spirit... (Matthew 4:1 NIV) and ...full of the Holy Spirit... (Luke 4:1 NIV). He returned from forty very tough days of being tempted by the devil in the wilderness ...in the power of the Spirit... (Luke 4:14 NIV). He was submitted to the Father and empowered by the Spirit. It was His habit to go to worship (Luke 4:16). It was His practice to memorise Scripture (Luke 4:4). Luke says Jesus ...often slipped away to be alone so He could pray (Luke 5:16 NCV). His times of prayer guided Him. He once returned from prayer and announced that it was time to move to another city (Mark 1:38), and another time of prayer resulted in the selection of His disciples (Luke 6:12- 13). Jesus was led by an unseen hand. ...The Son does whatever the Father does (John 5:19 NCV). In the same chapter He stated, I can do nothing alone. I judge [each situation] only the way I am told... (John 5:30 NCV). Today pray, Father, keep me sharp, sensitive and surrendered to You in all things; not as a last resort but a first response. Take over. Jesus within me, live Your life through me! Mr. & Mrs. Damluka Friday Pele
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 13:38:11 +0000
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