When I
was a young Christian, just starting out on this journey with Jesus, I remember
a pastor that I used to listen to teach about what the life of a believer
should look like. He taught on how we are to be living epistles being lived out
before the world around us. This was also the first time I heard the sayings, “we
may be the only Bibles people ever read” and “we may be the only
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“So
when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said
to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord,
and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher have washed
your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example;
that you should do as I have done to you.’” John 13:12-15
He has
given me an example that I should do as He has done. This hit me like an arrow
into the heart because lately, if you were to read my life epistle it would be
all about me. It would reflect me, it would talk about me, and it would look
less like Jesus and more like me. The more I spend time in God’s Word, and the
more I learn about Jesus, His Word, His Life, His love, the more I see my need
to repent. I need obedience in my life, daily obedience. Not just obedience for
the tough stuff, but for the day to day stuff. If I say I live for Jesus, then
my life should speak that all the time, not just some of the time. I have people
tell me they are Christians, and some of these people are even pastors and
teachers, however, when you spend time with them and get to know them, their
lives look more like the world than they do Christ. The things that they say,
the things that they talk about just throw up warning and flags and make you
wonder if they know who Jesus is at all. Jesus has clearly told us in His words
to the disciples that we must follow His example and do as He has done. If we
are not always following that, then what are we following?
So what
exactly should our lives as Christians look like then? If we say we are His and
we follow Him, what should people be seeing and hearing from us? Well, let’s
start with what the word “example” means. It means to show, to be an example
meant for imitation. Paul stated this for us when he wrote, “Imitate me, just as
I also imitate Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1) So, if we are living our lives for
Jesus then our lives will look like His. The greatest picture of Jesus that I
have ever read is found in 1 Corinthians 13. Paul writes to us about what love
truly looks like and as far as I can tell, Jesus was the perfect example of love
lived out before us. Jesus suffered long, and was kind. He did not envy, nor
did He parade Himself around town, bragging or giving praise to Himself. He did
not behave rude towards others. He did not seek His own desires, only those of
the Father’s. He was not provoked into anger, or into evil thinking. He did not
rejoice in our sins, because of the price that He had to pay for them. He
rejoiced in the truth of the Father as it was being lived out in Him and
through Him. Jesus bore all things for us, He believed all things for us, and
He hoped in all the promises of God for us. He endured all things for our
sakes. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) Does your life resemble that?
Jesus
gave us an example to follow. In John 13 when Jesus tells us to follow His
example, He was not referring to the washing of other’s feet. If He was then
there would be some other reference to it in the book of Acts or the epistles,
but as far as I can tell, the disciples did not keep this ritual going. If they
had, I am sure someone would have mentioned it. No, the example that Jesus gave
us was not just the washing of their feet, but the example of His whole life.
The way He walked upon the earth up until that point in His life, and also the
path that He was about to take to Calvary. Peter was the first one to speak up
to Jesus and tell Him not to wash his feet, (John 13:6) but I believe Peter
finally understood the depth of what Jesus was talking about when He told the
disciples that this was just an example and they were to follow it. Peter
refers to the example of Jesus’ life in his epistle. “For to this you were
called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you
should follow His steps.” (1 Peter 2:21) Peter may not have understood at first
what Jesus was doing, but he did finally get it. Do we get it?
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John
also was present when Jesus gave this example, and he too refers to it in one
of his writings. “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just
as He walked.” (1 John 2:6) Our lives should look like Jesus’ life. They should resemble and be an example for
others to follow. Does your life resemble Christ’s life? John tells us that if
we say we “abide in Him” then our lives ought to show that by the way we walk
upon this earth. Telling me you are a Christian today means nothing to me if
your life does not resemble His. Jesus tells us in John 15 that if we “abide in
Him” we will bear much fruit. (John 15:5) What kind of fruit should our lives
be producing then? I mean if we say we
are in Him, and we follow Him then the same fruit He produced should be
producing in us too, right? We are the branches and He is the vine so if He
produced fruit we should be producing that same fruit also. So what is this
fruit we should be producing?
“But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23a
If we
are in Him and we are following Him and we are “abiding” in Him then our lives
will resemble His and the fruit that people will read and see in us will look
just like His did. We will be loving, not jealous or hateful, or selfish. We
will seek to be servants of others, not seeking to be served. We will be genuine.
One thing I have learned over the years is just because someone tells me they
love me and are my “friend” does not mean that is the truth. If we are His and
we are following His example then our lives will look like His, it will sound
like His and will be sincere like His. One thing that the Lord has shown me and
is showing me is that anytime these things (the list following) pop up into my
life, my thoughts, and my heart, then I am in my own flesh and the example I am
following is not His example but the example of sin. (The list: adultery and
fornication {not just the actual act, but the thoughts, desires and lusts that
are derived from them in my heart} uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery,
hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions,
dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like:
{Galatians 5:19-21a})
If any
of these behaviors, whether spoken or thought or found to be in my heart are
made manifest then I am no longer following Jesus but I have now chosen to
follow sin. Jesus lived a life before us so that we would know how God wanted
us to walk. He does not desire us to walk in the ways of the world, but to
follow Him in obedience, no matter how much that obedience hurts. But, you say,
Jesus was God in the flesh, He was able to walk a perfect life before us. Yes,
that is true, but I also think we forget that the same Holy Spirit that was in
Jesus, working in Him and through Him to walk out the will of God on the earth
is the same Holy Spirit that is in us, if we are truly His. The
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