Living The Way Jesus Lived

Scripture

Our verse for today comes from 1 John 2:4-6, “Anyone who says, ‘I know God,’ but does not obey God’s commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if someone obeys God’s teaching, then in that person God’s love has truly reached its goal. This is how we can be sure we are living in God: whoever says that he lives in God must live as Jesus lived.”

Background & Application

You are probably like me in that there are some passages of Scripture that you wish you didn’t come across. And yes, I’m talking about the verses that are painfully similar to the ones we have for today. Those verses that say “anyone” or “whoever” and go on to talk about how I should be living. Those verses that tell me if I believe or claim something, then certain things should be true and living in my life. It’s these times when we understand how God’s Word is sharper than any two-edged sword. So when i read that whoever says that he lives in Him must live as Jesus lived, I must stop for a bit and check out how I’m living. I’ve got to weigh whether I’m walking just as He walked, or as Peter put it, am I following His steps? am I obeying Christ’s very words, or am I obeying the Christian culture that I have been raised in? Am I reflecting Jesus or do I make Him to reflect me? And so I ask myself what do I have to trust Him for on a daily basis? There’s water with the twist of a knob, a car to take me anywhere I want to go, food on every corner, a paycheck every week, and more clothes in my closet than I could wear in a month.

Which part of that picture looks like Jesus? And let’s not forget the impatience of waiting for a green light, the need to have the newest and best of whatever will fill next year’s landfill, or just the pleasure of feeling superior to someone. You get the picture. we take Jesus’ words and examples and we water them down through 2000 years of progress and prosperity. We say His radical demands and extreme standards are just metaphors for being godly and living right. We’re comfortable with going to church, being kind to our friends, and thanking God for blessing us, while we walk past the same people every weekday and Sunday, oblivious to their needs or hurts. Some of them need to be welcomed, invited, included, and not just the people that run in your church circle. It’s a good thing heaven is for eternity, because it may take us a while to unlearn so much of what we think being a Christian is. So let’s really start preparing for heaven by living like Jesus lived on earth.

Charge

As we seek Him today, let’s pray for those, like me, who are struggling with the way things are and the way things probably should be. Let’s ask God if we are glorifying Him in how we live and worship. And for some of us, let’s say I believe, help thou my unbelief.

Rich Holt / BCWorldview.org