Who would Jesus say You Imitate?

Who would Jesus say You Imitate?

by David Brenneman 

Your life in one sense is uniquely yours, but to those who are indeed saved in Christ Jesus, your life is to reflect one displaying the character of Christ in you. 

Would another, regardless of whether they know you or not, look at your life and see Jesus in your speech, love and conduct?

Would your words and actions show others, regardless of who they are, that there is the hope of Christ living in you?

We're not to live as the world does. We're not to adopt the mannerisms nor the desires of the land in which we live.  Reading in Leviticus this morning, Jesus told Moses to teach the men of Israel how to conduct themselves in the land they would be going. 

How to behave towards each other and towards outsiders. Of what to do to those in their midst who sin in grievous ways.  To cut out the sinful people from their midst.

Is God being too serious about sin?  Is that even a question?  God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit all were in perfect unity in what needed, what had to be done, to save humanity, the very image of God. 

Sin had to be expunged, had to be fully dealt with, defeated, destroyed, removed from humanity. 

The only answer was a perfect sacrifice in regards to sin. The only perfect sacrifice possible had to be the Lord Jesus Christ. 

We who have come to Christ have the indwelling Spirit of God.  We're to read His Word, the Bible, to get acquainted with how to live this life on God's terms, His way. We are to live a transformed life, as Romans 12 speaks to.  We become His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that we might walk in them.  We are to abhor what is evil and cling to what is good.  We are not to run after the things that the people of the lands go after if those things in ANY way, shape or form, draw us away from God's plan and purpose for us. Just as the children of Israel were warned not to follow after the customs of the lands in which they were going, so we too are warned to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 

Are you at all on the alert?  Jesus said you should be.

Are you at all striving to please the Lord Jesus Christ since He sacrificed His life for you. Jesus said you ought to be.

Are you removing idolatry, immorality, from influencing you? Jesus said you must do this.

We aren't here as native people in the lands in which we live.  In Christ, we are aliens, visitors, we are not to be of the mind of the world. 

If a room of people whom have spent a great deal of time with you were tasked with describing your life, would "follower of Christ Jesus" at all be a description? Would you be ashamed of reviewing your thoughts in front of Jesus?  

Do you devote any part of your day to time in your Bible, seeking true wisdom and true knowledge of God?

Would Jesus be proud of your walk with Him?  Would your deeds done in your life amount to a crown to give back to Jesus for all He's done for you?

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." Ephesians 5:1-2.

All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. Lockman Foundation.