When you read the Gospels, do you ever try to imagine yourself in the scene, listening to Jesus and the others speak, watching mannerisms and so forth? The Word of God is powerful, and just reading it, meditating on it, and applying it, is life changing. But something is lost in translation.
What I mean by that is something you may have heard me talk about before. So many times, when well-intentioned people down through the years have attempted to portray Jesus in film and on the stage, His words and mannerisms are, to be honest, boring. Did He speak with inflection? With passion? Did He never laugh?
When I read the Gospels, I try to imagine what the conversations looked like and sounded like. And I can imagine a lot. I can see Jesus as quick-witted, funny, or angry. I can see Him as animated, calm, confident, or sad. I can hear Him as loud, as incredulous, as reassuring. I can picture Him with the whole range of human emotion and expression. Almost.
I can never picture Him as confused. I can never picture Him as desperate. I can never picture Him as afraid.
What I love about Jesus in the Gospels is that He was never caught off guard, never panicked, never at the end of His rope. He always knew just what to say and just what to do. When he said to His disciples, “follow Me,” they readily did. And one of the reasons was that He was clearly a man who know where He was going.
We look at the circumstances surrounding us, and we wonder what it would be like if Jesus Himself were right here with us. What a load off! HE would know exactly what to do! He wouldn’t be afraid, and HIS fearlessness would be contagious.
One application of this line of thought is that He IS with us. He will never leave us nor forsake us, so we should not be afraid. But I’m going a different direction.
We have the same Holy Spirit who empowered Jesus living on the inside of us. And Jesus Himself said we would do the works that He did, and even greater works. Let’s make it our aim to have the same effect on people around us, on circumstances around us, that Jesus had when He walked the earth.
That’s why the New Testament has so much to say about growing in Him, newness of life, the new man, renewing of the mind, transformation. Here are a couple of key passages:
Romans 8:29 says, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be con-formed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
Ephesians 4:13 says, “…till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;…”
That’s what we are aiming for. And it’s not so we can go to Heaven; that’s taken care of. It’s so we can BE Jesus to the world. As we pray for our needs and for the needs of others, as we exercise our faith for victory, for healing, and supply, let us also not neglect to pray this: “Make me more like You.” The world needs Jesus. They need us only insofar as we are like Him.
P.S. I was recently invited to share, on Facebook, pictures of the covers of albums that had impacted me over the years. One of these was the Imperials’ album “One More Song for You.” It includes a song called “More Like You”, which also appeared on Michael and Stormie Omartian’s album “Seasons of the Soul” (Which was also one of my picks). Both versions are worth a listen on YouTube or wherever you listen to music. The lyrics are a simple prayer, but one worth praying.
A deeper musical reflection is Keith Green’s “I Want to be More Like Jesus.” Check it out!
Blessings,
