Christian Mael

What does it mean to be like Jesus?

I have been a Christian my entire life and for the majority of that time I had no idea what it meant to be a Christian.  If you ask around everyone will give you a different answer.

I believe that being a Christian is being like the person of Christ (meaning Jesus). I don’t know about you, but I’m the kind of person that likes easy answers and easy ways of getting stuff done, who doesn’t?

Since I was little I always asked the wrong questions.  I believe most people do too. Questions like; as a Christian what do I need to do for God to be happy? What do I need to pray about? How far can I go before I sin? All those questions are good questions, but even if we have the right answer and do the right things we will not have a relationship with Jesus. That’s all he wants from us, a relationship with him.

If you want to develop a relationship with anyone you have to get to know the person, so at a very early age I decided to begin my journey with Jesus. I started reading the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), because I wanted to learn about Jesus. As a Christian our goal should be to become more like Jesus and less like us (He must increase, but I must decrease John 3:30).

If we want to be like Jesus we have to imitate the things that He did. Let’s look at a few things Jesus did that teach us about who He is and how we can become more like Him.

1 Love like Jesus

If you read the Gospels you will notice this is a story of Jesus’ relentless love for humanity. Every story narrated in those four books is about Jesus showing love and compassion for people. When He saw a need Jesus didn’t pray for the need He met the need. If people were sick Jesus showed them His love through healing. In many occasions these people were outcast by society, like the man who was demon possessed Mark 5:1-20. He fed the hungry Matthew 14:13-21. He met the need of the woman at the well in John 4:1-45, Jesus was what she was longing for many years.

Jesus’ love for humanity is what made him get out of heaven to come and die on a cross for you and me. Jesus loved the unlovable and included the excluded. We all know people that are hard to love, and people that we at times push away. Those are the people that we need to show love. Being like Jesus could be hard, because it challenges us to get out of the comfort zone that we all love. When we love the people that are difficult to love we will see God move in our lives in mighty ways.

2 Forgive like Jesus.

Forgiveness is one of the hardest things to show sometimes. Many times the people that hurt us are the people we thought never would. While Jesus was on the cross he cried out to the Father in heaven “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.’ And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice” (Luke 23:34 NLT). He came to die for the world, even for those who killed Him. Why do we hold things against people when Jesus already forgave you even for the sins you haven’t committed yet? You might say that it’s easy for Him because he is God, I would say this, it cost Jesus’ blood on a cross for him to extend forgiveness to you and me.

“True forgiveness is accepting the other person as if they never hurt you” – Christian Mael

God doesn’t keep track of our wrongs, why do we keep track of the people who wrong us? If you want to live free, you have to forgive and not hold anything against anyone. Otherwise, you will be carrying your chains for a long time.

If we want to be like Jesus we have to extend forgiveness to everyone.

John 3:16 (NIV) 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

3 Serve like Jesus.

Matthew 20:28 (NIV)

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus was a servant, He served wherever He went. Jesus served all kinds of people; the rich, the poor, the sick, the dead, those who followed him and even those who didn’t follow his teaching. Jesus is the best example of serving. He served His disciples until His death. There are many ways you can serve Jesus. When you serve others you are serving him. You can serve His bride (the Church) in many ways; greeting people at the door, children’s ministry, cleaning in a ministry, etc. Another way you can follow Jesus’ example of serving is feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and the elders.

Remember that when you serve one another you are not serving them you are serving Jesus.

Those are just a few examples that can help us become more like Jesus. I don’t want to call myself a Christian and look nothing like Christ. We are in this journey together as a body of Christ.

Hope this helps you in many ways, if it did feel free to share it with everyone, remember that great leaders help other people grow.

Blessings!

Christian Mael