Photo Above: JeJu Islan, South Korea. Photographer: Korean Culture and Information Service
Be More Like Jesus
“The person whose Bible is falling apart, usually is the person whose life is not.” Charles Spurgeon
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6
God through Jesus Christ has forgiven us for all our sins and reconciled us to himself in one act on the cross 2,000 years ago. And God through the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, and calls us to live fruitfully for Him.
The truth is God has a heavy and difficult call for those who receive Him. Jesus calls it the “narrow door”. When we receive Christ we become representatives of Him and His kingdom on earth. We are called to emulate Christ. Our lives are examined by those who don’t know Jesus, and our lives prove to be either really good or really bad preaching to them. God chooses to use people to represent Him, but we prove unfaithful to our mission when we look exactly like the world.
A big example that reminds me of the importance of a changed life is from the Apologist Ravi Zacharias. He once spoke of an event he had with Billy Graham and some of his staff. As he arrived for a meeting an aide mentioned to everybody that he had just found one of the most profound and impacting articles he had ever read on enhancing one’s memory. He started passing the article around to everybody and as he got to Ravi, he said “sorry Ravi it turns out I don’t have enough right now, I will get you a copy before you leave for the airport.” Ravi turned to him, and told him “no, that won’t be necessary you already gave me one at the airport as I arrived.” Everybody heard the comment and started laughing, and one by one, everybody started handing back their articles to the aide!
Just as nobody is attracted to reading an article on memory that doesn’t work, nobody will be attracted to a life changing God, from a person who is not changed by God.
Questions to think about:
Do I represent Jesus’s Kingdom well?
What areas do I need to work on to become more like Christ?
two minute devotional 