TO BE LIKE JESUS

I once heard a man tell 300 young people that he did not know the Bible very well, but that he really knew Jesus! I told him right after the lesson that his statement was completely impossible, because all he could ever know for sure about Jesus was in the very Bible which he admitted he didn't know very well!

There are so many people who claim to know and love some phantom which they dreamed up. The even talk about loving as Christ loved, and loving what Christ loved. But their subsequent life-style proves they do not love the Scriptures -- which reveal Christ to us, nor the church -- for which Jesus died and shed His blood (Acts 20:28). Nor do they love the souls of men enough to tell them God's eternal truth about salvation or how to get to heaven!

God, in the Bible the young man admitted he didn't know very well, gives a comprehensive view of what He has always required: "And keep the charge of Jehovah thy God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself" (1 Kgs. 2:3).

It is said of the people who watched the lives of the followers of Jesus, "Now when they beheld the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled: and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13). People can only tell we have been with Jesus when we think and act like Him!

In Christ We Have: -- A love that can never be fathomed. A life that can never die. A righteousness that can not be tarnished. A peace that can never be understood. A rest that can never be disturbed. A joy that can never be diminished. A hope that can never be disappointed. A glory that can never be clouded. A light that can never be darkened. A happiness that can never be enfeebled. A purity that can never be defiled. A beauty that can never be marred. A wisdom that can never be baffled. Resources that can never be exhausted.

Our Savior rebuked sin, "Jesus said unto them, Is it not for this cause that ye err, that ye know not the scriptures, nor the power of God?" (Mk. 12:24). He condemned hypocrisy, "Making void the word of God by your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things ye do...all things therefore whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe: but do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not" (Mk. 7:13; Matt. 23:3). He exposed their traditions as being opposed to the word of God. And those were the basic reasons they crucified Him. Do we have the courage to be like our Redeemer in the midst of such animosity? To live for the Master is the greatest challenge we shall ever face!

Have you ever noticed how most of our gospel songs, spiritual songs, center in the glorious life of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ?

Jesus is All the World to Me. Let the Beauty of Jesus be Seen in Me. Into the Heart of Jesus Deeper and Deeper I Go. Would You Live for Jesus? Have Thine Own Way Lord. All the Way My Savior Leads Me. Savior, Lead Me Lest I Stray. Be With Me Lord. Anywhere With Jesus I Can Safely God. Bring Christ Your Broken Life. If Jesus Goes With Me.

The more like Christ we become, the nearer heaven will be and the distance from Satan will be greater. May we live, emphasizing godliness, that a closer walk with God will be a daily habit and eternal blessing. "Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6).

Read Acts 8:26-39 for a clear Bible example of how to become a Christian. Then read 2 Pet. 1:4-11 on how to maintain this relationship. "My help comes from the Lord, who made heave and earth" (Psa. 121:2). Again, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:20). To live like Christ is a genuine joy now, with hope for an even better tomorrow.

By Johnny Ramsey in Gospel Minutes, Vol. 52, No. 42, Oct. 17, 2003.

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