To Be Like Jesus

There’s an old song, perhaps a hymnal that keeps running through my mind: To be like Jesus/ To be like Jesus/ All I ask/ To be like Him/ All through life’s journey/ From earth to glory/ All I ask/ To be like Him..

So begs the question, what does it mean to be like Jesus?

“And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭15:2‬ ‭KJV‬‬

I know for myself, sometimes I become too comfortable with people like me. That I forget how Jesus lived. He didn’t surround himself with the “saints.” Rather, the “sinners.” If you will.

This is where I sometimes get it all wrong.

I heard a vision, second-hand, for a church, not the church I attend. For there to be individuals with their ears gaged and piercings, tattoos on their faces, necks, arms, you name it… Sounds ideal, right? A place where everyone belongs? A place where the sinner and the saint can worship together…

I just have one thought on the matter. Who will go into the highways and byways and compel them to come in? Who will stick with them in the midnight hour and walk with them through the transitions of their lifestyles? Because when God’s Spirit enters in, it changes you! Things you did before, you don’t do anymore. And those demons – those battles from your past, you are going to have to face those… Who will guide, mentor, them through those processes? Jesus stuck with them, instructed them, taught them how to succeed… How to endure, overcome. How to make it.

We are the church. It can no longer be, a Sunday to Sunday affair. It has to be upholding our brothers and sisters throughout the week, even into the night sometimes.

We are His hands and feet. We are to do the work of our Lord. No longer can we hide, keep this thing to ourselves. We must get out, leave our comfort zones and walk along side even those deemed the most difficult.

When I came to the realization, even the unbeliever is a child of God, made in His image, that changed everything for me. It is not God’s will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

*Original Photo*