We are Christians. We're called to be "like Christ." We're being "conformed to the image of His Son" (Rom 8:29). Husbands are commanded to "love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her" (Eph 5:25). Jesus told His disciples, "Love one another, just as I have loved you" (John 13:34; John 15:12). Just ... like ... Christ.
The list is quite extensive. "Whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked" (1 John 2:6) We are to "be imitators of God" (Eph 5:1-2). Paul told the Philippian Christians to "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus" (Php 2:5). What attitude? He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself and became a bond-servant (Php 2:6-7). Like that.
We all know this. It's not hidden or obscure. It just seems as if ... it's not a priority. We've got our lives to live. We'll get around to all this "emptying self" stuff ... later. It shouldn't be. Yes, it is diametrically opposed to human nature, but it is His singular command (John 13:35). We need to walk like Him, love like Him, imitate Him. It has to be our primary operating procedure if we are going to call ourselves, "Christians."
2 comments:
This week on the podcast "Things Unseen", the topic was looking at the different things Christ accomplished. But a through point of it all was to return our focus away from simply looking at what He did, but to focus on Him, on Christ. If we don't have a love for Christ, but only for all the wonderful things He's done, are we truly Christians?
The common saying, “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck,” would apply here, as our attitudes (inward conduct) and actions (outward behavior) should help identify us as followers of Christ. Afterall, one’s belief system should by definition shape one’s “religion.” To that end, it seems to me that the entire New Testament writings present this message: “I can know God through His Son, Jesus Christ. God’s Holy Spirit will indwell me and conform me to Christ’s image, as the fruit of Christlikeness is produced in me. If I am in Christ, I will become more and more like Him and less and less like the sin-driven creature I once was. A major component will be love--the first Fruit of the Spirit. In all of Christ’s words and deeds, love--for the Father and for me--was preeminent. So it should be for me as His disciple.”
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