Just Like Jesus-part 1

What does it mean to be Christlike? To me, it's a rather silly term, so likely to be misunderstood as to be nearly meaningless. Almost no one who preaches Christ-likeness as a pursuit actually allows for the achievement of it, and those who do generally have reduced its meaning to matters of character only.

However, I believe not only is it possible to be like Jesus in every way, but it should be considered normal. John wrote that anyone who claimed to live in Jesus should walk exactly like Him. That's simple language. There's no room for interpretation--just like Jesus.

When you combine that statement with Jesus' prediction that anyone who believed in Him would do the same miracles He did and even bigger and better ones, the picture becomes clear--this is a standard of normality far above what most of us have heard. While it is clear, it also seems an impossible goal, and one from which I usually feel quite distant--just like Jesus

There's a lot to say on this subject, so it will take several posts to cover it. I will begin with this thought as a foundation: God has set a standard for us in Jesus that only Jesus in us can meet. I hear people talk about training for Christ-likeness, and I cringe at the terminology, because it makes it sound so humanly dependent.

The standard of life in Jesus is Jesus Himself...and more. Therefore, something supernatural, something super-human, something mystical or magical must occur in order for the standard to be met. Granted, renewing the mind plays a central role in that supernatural process, and that could be called a sort of training.

Nevertheless, let us not reduce the goal to a manageable one in order to try and reason a way to achieve it with human effort. To me, it's even more exciting to realize that all this is utterly insurmountable without divine interaction. The sheer impossibility of it is proof that another reality exists, and that this other reality is for me to experience now, on a daily basis, in the process of this earthly life.

God has set a standard for us in Jesus that only Jesus in us can meet. This should be normal: a supernatural, God-revealing life--Just like Jesus.