Can You Become Like Jesus?

On one of TV's many day-time talk shows a despondent woman lamented about how, even though she knew it was the right thing to do, she was just too hurt "at this time" to even consider forgiving some person who had obviously hurt her badly. A couple living together and having children outside the bonds of marriage declare that "one day" they will get married but they aren't ready just yet. A man balancing his check book knows he should do more for the needy and give more to charity but he really has to get that new motor for his boat this month, and his beach house was damaged in a storm and he really needs to get it repaired. Sitting and reading this about these people, or maybe about people we may even know, we may think, "how did they get like that?" Well, quite simply, the answer is they were born like that. All of us were. Our natural make-up mandates that we are selfish, greedy, materialistic beings bent only on indulging our flesh and comforting our kin.

Then we find that Christ demands that we live holy lives, self-less, faithful lives bent on pleasing God and not placating ourselves. A quick check of our DNA will readily reveal that no such life is possible. My genetic make-up has been passed down to me through my father from his father and on and on. In fact, the very nature that insists that I behave the way I do has been passed down to me through time beginning with the very first human, Adam (Romans 5:12-19). So then, my behavior and appetites are a direct result of my human nature.

That is why I need Jesus. He had no such nature. His make-up, like mine, did come from His Father. But it did not come from or through Adam. He did not come from the world, He came into the world (John 6:51). If I am going to live like Jesus, I must become like Jesus. My nature must become as His nature. I must be born again (John 3:3). For us to become what Christ has called us to be we must be redeemed and regenerated. This means that our old nature must die and we must take on the very nature of Jesus Himself. God is not interested in improving our nature, He wants to get rid of it altogether. He does not want us to become better humans, He wants us to become dead humans (I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Gal 2:20 NIV). It is only after we have died to self can He breathe into us new life, eternal life, life that demonstrates itself to the world in our propensity for holiness.

God calls us to be holy as He is holy. God equips us in Jesus Christ to be what He has called us to be. It is already done. He has fixed it so that imitating Him is possible. I can have the nature of Christ put in me. I cannot have it until I realize that I need it. We can live holy, self-less, faithful lives. The only thing left is for us to want to.