Be Like Him

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Jesus came to earth in human flesh to teach us HOW TO fish. What made Him able to live without sin is now our way of living, our way of responding to difficult circumstances.

We know this, yet we don’t.

We ascribe all power and ability to Him. He could overcome the demands of His body and mind, yet we are still prey to it. He was confident. He was BOLD. But we are not. We are forever tossed about by sin and the devil.

Hogwash.

What made Jesus so confident? Two things. One, He knew death had no power over Him. Two, He knew He spoke the words of and did the will of His Father.

Death had no power over Him BECAUSE He had not sinned. He was capable of sinning, though. This seems foreign to our thinking, but these are the words of Hebrews 4:15. He was “in ALL POINTS TEMPTED like as we are.” A temptation is the opportunity to sin. Jesus had the opportunity many times (think 40 days in the wilderness, for instance). But He overcame them all, and His sinlessness prevented death from causing Him any harm.

We see this in His own words. He told us He would "lay down" His life, meaning He would choose the manner and time of His death. (Jn 10:15,17) He had to surrender to death in order for death to operate in Him. But know this, Jesus was not reliant on Himself to avoid sin. He didn’t avoid sin because He was God. He relied on His relationship with the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit on Him. (Mt 3:16; Act 10:38)

Many times He said, “I do the will of my Father.” It was HEARING the Father speak in His inner man and operating in the power of Holy Spirit that enabled Him to overcome. He went where They led Him. He healed who They sent Him to. He preached the words They spoke in His heart. (Jn 5:19, 30; Jn 12:49-50) He laid down His life in the manner They sent Him to do it, in complete obedience to Their will.

These are the words of Philippians 2:8. It says, “And being found in fashion AS A MAN, he humbled himself, and became OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH, even the death of the cross.”

He was OBEDIENT to God’s will for Him, and God’s will for Him was to set us an example of HOW TO LIVE. Backing up a few verses in this passage, we can see this powerful truth clearer. Verse 5-7 state, “LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”

LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU WHICH WAS IN HIM.

What MIND was that? Well, He did not come as a mighty conqueror with an angel army. He did not come as a warring King. He had the power to do this. He stated it to Peter in Gethsemane. (Mt 26:53) Instead, HE CAME AS A MAN. He did not come with His divine privileges. HE WAS A BABY, A HUMAN, who needed protection. He matured into a toddler, then a teenager, and an adult like we do. HE FOUGHT AGAINST EVERY HUMAN URGE WE FIGHT AGAINST.

LET THIS SAME MIND BE IN YOU, meaning this is how we should also walk. We should think like CHRIST, WHO THOUGHT IT NOT ROBBERY TO BE EQUAL WITH GOD. He was God, mind you. But He was God in the flesh, subject to the same temptations we are subject to. He had the choice to sin or not sin, the choice to obey His Father’s will and die, and He successfully did that SO THAT WE CAN LIVE LIKE HE DID AND THINK LIKE HE DID. Hear the words of Hebrews.

“Having therefore, brethren, BOLDNESS to enter into the holiest BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS, 20 BY A NEW AND LIVING WAY, which HE HATH CONSECRATED FOR US, through the veil, that is to say, HIS FLESH; 21 And having an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart IN FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb 10:19-22)

We have BOLDNESS TO ENTER into God’s presence because Jesus gave us a NEW AND LIVING WAY to walk and talk successfully. AS HE WAS in His life, we can also be in ours. He gave us all power, or authority, over all the power of the enemy. (Lk 10:19) Like Him, we can now choose our manner of death. Now, hear me in this. Not that we will not die physically. There is a law of death on the earth for a time. But we are no longer under the POWER OF DEATH, JUST AS HE IS NO LONGER UNDER THE POWER OF DEATH. (Rm 6:9) He submitted to death in order to conquer it FOREVER.

In that, He provided the way for us TO BE LIKE HIM. He provided the boldness and confidence required to overcome the enemy in whatever we may face. NOT confidence in our body and mind, but confidence in our relationship with God, the Father, and Holy Spirit. Jesus set the example that it can be done AS A MAN. We can live healthy and well, with all our needs provided for, as the head and not the tail BECAUSE HE DID SO. (Deut 28:13)

What does it say in Ephesians? “So BE IMITATORS of God, as his dear children.” (Eph 5:1 ISV)

BE AN IMITATOR OF GOD. LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU. THINK LIKE CHRIST WHO THOUGHT IT NOT ROBBERY TO BE EQUAL WITH GOD. He conquered death and gave us His same authority so that we could think as He thought and walk as He walked ON EARTH. (Mt 6:10)

Read 1 John 2:6. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even AS HE WALKED.”

Is that what it says or not? WALK AS HE WALKED with the same authority with the same connection to the Father and the same power over sin and death. Jesus knew the devil could do nothing to Him. What if we approached life like that?

Romans 8:2-3 says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus HATH MADE ME FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the LIKENESS of sinful flesh, and for sin, CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH.”

Jesus CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH by living AS A MAN so that we COULD WALK FREE of sin and death AS HE WALKED free of sin and death with the SAME MINDSET that He had, where He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, despite being human like weak and sinful men.

Why would He do that? Out of His great love for us, we know from John 3:16, as well as to fulfill Old Testament law. (Mt 5:17) But hear Romans 8:4: “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT.” Jesus walked after the Spirit on earth so that we had an example of HOW TO walk after the Spirit on earth.

He’s no King who looks over the battle, spotless and unharmed from His hilltop, while we struggle in the fray. No, He CONQUERED DEATH AS A MAN because that WAS BEST FOR US. Where an earthly conqueror would sit on his throne in the comforts of his castle while the people did his bidding, JESUS CONQUERED AS A MAN, in the SAME MANNER WE LIVE, so that we could LIVE AS CONQUERORS JUST LIKE HIM.

LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU, which was in Him, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God while living as a man, but He relied on the Father and Holy Spirit to overcome the enemy and therefore COULD NOT die until He chose to do it.

He didn’t fear death. He didn’t worry He’d catch leprosy when He prayed for a leper. He didn’t consider what people said about Him when He had dinner with a tax collector. He didn’t worry that maybe if He asked the Father and the Spirit to raise Lazarus it might not work. He said, “The girl’s just sleeping. Why are you crying?” (Mk 5:39) He didn’t even consider her dead!

So, be like Him who REIGNED IN LIFE (Rm 5:17) victorious over all the strategies of the devil (Eph 6:11) BECAUSE that’s what He came to earth to provide for us. He came to MAKE US AS HE IS. Powerful, conquering, beloved children of the Father.

“Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because AS HE IS, SO ARE WE in this world.” (1 John 4:17)

“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, BE WITH ME WHERE I AM; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.feelgoodromance.com
www.suzannedwilliams.com