Be Like Jesus

"I'm telling you to be like Jesus."

I HATE talking. The physical effort of talking, the mental strain of it. I hate coming up with words. They don’t make sense the way they do on the page. Writing I can think about. Talking can’t be retracted. I am actually thinking of this when people are speaking in the pulpit. “You can’t take that back.” Not in criticism, though I realize it reads that way. But when writing, there is a process to choosing what to say and how to say it. People who have never written and aren’t writers, don’t know this. Again, that is not meant to be critical.

Jesus sets our example. He “did no evil, and there was no deceit in his mouth: To sharp words he gave no sharp answer; when he was undergoing pain, no angry word came from his lips (1 Peter 2:22-23 BBE)." Isaiah 53:7 in The Message Bible adds to this, saying, “He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence.”

I’m not telling you to be like me. I’m telling you to be like Jesus. Especially if you are a servant in the church. I put it that way on purpose. The word “ministry”, often tossed around, comes from a word meaning “servant”. You are called to help people. You are not called to talk about people, to say angry words or give sharp answers. They need you to show them Jesus.

I have said this, but in my darkest hour, I knew the voice of evil. It was God’s Voice I didn’t recognize because of all that I’d heard in the pulpit. All I still hear. Jesus is far more understanding and down-to-earth than we’ve realized. HE’S HUMAN. (Gasp. IKR.) He grew up on the earth, learned to talk, made friends, ate meals. He understands what it’s like to live here, and He knows people down to their thoughts and intents. We have no secrets from Him.

He isn’t appalled by your habits, by human needs, by human mistakes. Or sins. He isn’t ever at the short-end of the stick, about to blow up if you don’t (insert obedience command). I’ve learned to talk to Him like me. Yes, I talk to Jesus. I’ve said this, too. I talk to the Holy Spirit, who I call Papa. I’d explain why, but it’s not my point. I talk to Abba. They all sound different, yet they are in unity, and when you hear them, you know it.

The God the church gave me was love, don’t get me wrong. I knew Jesus loved me, and that saved me. But somehow, He was “untouchable”. I was taught we pray TO Him, and amidst all the clatter, He hears us, and He WILL answer, but it’s still just lonely old me and God way-up-there. However, when down-here, we are far closer to the devil than to God. DID YOU KNOW THIS THINKING IS WRONG? God lives IN ME, and I invited Him to come UPON ME. I want all of Him, so that I can do everything from here into forever with Him talking to me about it.

Because of what I’d heard in the church, I had to be convinced it was God speaking to me in the first place. In my heart, I knew it was, but … and there was that break there while I discarded my wrong thinking. Here’s the question, though: WHY DID THE CHURCH PAINT THE WRONG IMAGE? Because they did not realize the truth AND/OR because they didn’t use the right words.

People are not your examples of errors in behavior. Don’t use that person who came to you with their problem, no matter how wrong they were in their beliefs, as an example in your talk to others of how not to behave. Use Jesus as how to behave. He shows us how to respond to people, how to love people, how to submit our will, our emotions, our thinking to God and be Spirit-led. Don’t use people who do known sins, listed in the epistles, as an example of how not to sin. No one gets saved when you do that. No one.

The love of God draws people to Jesus. Your criticism and condemnation drives them away, even if you are right. And it misleads those who are like me into believing Jesus is like you.

He isn’t.

“Jesus, with his human mind filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River and was led by the Spirit into the desert,” (Luke 4:1, Remedy)

“With his humanity empowered by the Spirit, Jesus returned to Galilee where news about him quickly spread throughout the entire region.” (Luke 4:14, Remedy)


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