02/08/2019
How great is our love for Jesus? Is it so great that the mere mention of His name cause a feeling of love and sanctification to rise up within us? The various names of Jesus should bring us joy and cause our spirits to leap within us, but this is not true until our faith in Him is complete, and He has saved us from sin. Jesus redeems us, and in so doing He changes not only what we do outwardly, but who we are inside... our very character.
“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."”
Matthew 1:21 ESV
A child begins its life needing its mother and father, but this is not yet love. A mother on the other hand begins loving her child even before it takes its first breath... she loves it while yet in her womb. The love that a child has for its parents comes as it experiences and returns the love it receives. This is true in our faith as well... we are loved by God from the foundation of the world, but we must learn and grow in that love; it must take root in us and change us. In this change we become like Jesus, like God, not just in imitating, but in the reshaping of our character that is who we are.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”
Ephesians 1:3-5 ESV
So it is that we make a conscious decision to follow Jesus, and to accept God as our Father, and as we experience the love that they are pouring over us, we begin to know and exhibit it ourselves in return to them... then as our character is changed and we become more and more like them we begin to love those around us, and to behave as they, our loving family, does... we have been saved from sin, sanctified, made holy, and now carry the traits of God within us. We can act like Jesus superficially, but until we have taken those things into our heart and made them who we are... we are frauds. Listen as Charles Spurgeon warns us of this...
“Professing Christian, is sin subdued in you? If your life is unholy, your heart is unchanged - and if your heart is unchanged, you are an unsaved person. If the Savior has not sanctified you, renewed you, given you a hatred of sin and a love of holiness, then He has done nothing of a saving character in you. The grace which does not make a person better than others is a worthless counterfeit.” - Charles Spurgeon
This is why we are taught so frequently in scripture about love, inward change, and how we should not only behave as Jesus, but love and feel as He does. We are expected to change who we are at our very core... our character. We start as imitators, but then we become in fact as Christ is. Paul tells the Corinthians to imitate Christ...
“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV
And also in his instruction go to the Ephesians...
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Ephesians 5:1-2 ESV
Then what started as imitation transforms us, and we become as the Lord is. Our character and heart begin to resemble His, and then finally become His. It is at this point that our actions are driven not by imitating His character, but by our own character that is now transformed within us.
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV
This is the heart of the journey of faith that we speak of so often of. So where are you on this road? Are you still imitating, and satisfied with that novice role, or have you begun your transformation? Are you acting like the Lord, or are you becoming like the Lord? It is so easy to fall back into sin if all we are doing is putting on the airs of Christ, but once we have begun our change, and are becoming as He is, then we find righteousness, and the temptation of sin falls away.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the love that you pour over me each day, and I thank you for the instruction you give my heart which transforms my character into yours. Help me Holy Father as I make my way towards becoming righteous... not in simple words of profession, but in reality as Jesus. Take what began as an imitation of you, and make it who I am. Let your Holy Spirit reveal those things to me that reshape my character, and allow me to be acceptable to you... a sanctified temple in which you are comfortable to abide. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God, my teacher, the transformer of my soul and character. Praised be your name, and the name of Jesus Christ. In my renewal I give you the glory forever, and thank your Son Jesus for His sacrifice, and the obedience He taught me... the renewing of my will as it becomes yours.
Rich Forbes