What Causes You To Want To Be Like Jesus?

The Lord just posed this question to me: What causes you to want to be like Jesus? I thought that was a rather straightforward question with a perfectly straightforward answer. Not so. As I have pondered my answer, it is not quite so simple.

What causes me to WANT to be like Jesus?

Is it so that I will go to heaven some day when I die or am raptured? Is it so that I will be accepted within the group of people I call friends? Is it because I want to stand out as being something most people in this secular world don’t want to be or like? Just what is it that causes me to want to be like Jesus?

Here is my reason. As I have looked at Jesus, particularly when He walked on this earth, I see a man who cared about other people, who wanted to ease their pain, who wanted to make things better for them, who wanted people to enjoy their lives. And I know that Jesus has made me like that. That is why I want to be like Him. I want to make people happy with their lives, to be comfortable with who they are, to appreciate their wonderful qualities, so that they also can make a difference in other people’s lives.

I want to be like Jesus because He loved to the uttermost all mankind, regardless of who they were. God’s Love is without measure and without distinction. He loves unconditionally. He loves all people, even when they don’t love Him or even believe that He exists or that He will help them.

When we look in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John we find that Jesus was humble, caring, loving, fun-loving, and kind to people. He was very precise in His teaching to them of His Father’s ways and Word. He was very exacting with them when it came to teaching the ways of the Kingdom. There was no room for nonsense or a religious mentality when people were in His presence. He was about His Father’s business. That was His mission. And what was His Father’s mission? The mission of the Father and of Jesus was to restore to mankind all that had been lost in the Garden of Eden, to bring man into a position of partaking of the abundance of the Kingdom of God, to reconcile man to his rightful position in the Father’s household as His children.

I want to be like Jesus because He made an eternal difference in people’s lives as He gave them the truth of Almighty God and His relationship to man. He showed people the way of faith. He demonstrated to them the way that faith worked. He taught them. He preached to them. He walked with them. He cared about them.

What was Jesus like? Let’s take a look at Him in one of the gospels, the book of Luke.

In Luke 2:49 we hear the first words recorded that Jesus spoke: How is it that you sought me? Don’t you know that I must be about My Father’s business in My Father’s house? What a beginning example for us! We must be about our Father’s business. What is the plan that the Lord has for your life? Is your life about fulfilling that plan?

Next, in Luke 4:1-15 we see Jesus being tempted by the devil. With every temptation, He declared the Word of His Father over that situation and the enemy was stopped. Once again, He set the example for us. Declare the Word of God over every situation that tries to overcome you and the enemy will be stopped in your life.

In Luke 4:18 Jesus spoke from the Word what He would be doing here on this earth for people. Here are His words to us also. He has come that we may be healed, delivered out of captivity, that we may be free from poverty, that we may have eyes to see spiritually, that we may be set free, have liberty instead of being broken down. He has come that we may be forever saved and basking in the Presence of the Lord God. This scripture must be fulfilled in our ears. We must hear it and believe it and act on it for ourselves.

Jesus healed the sick; He cast out devils; He preached the Kingdom of God. As He went about doing good, He called His disciples to join Him in the work of the ministry. He invested Himself into them. He trained them in the ways of the Kingdom of God. He spent time with them, teaching them to become mighty men of God. He chose to see them the way His Father saw them, not the way others saw them or the way they saw themselves.

He answered many of their questions. He showed the people that He understood them. He saw beyond their façade into the real person. He told them what they needed. He showed them that He saw their sinful ways and still loved them.

He taught us on love. He showed us the way to the Love of God. He was Love Himself, come to this earth, to shine forth the Light of Love. He showed us the way. That’s why I want to be like Jesus. What about you?