What Does It Mean To Live as a Christian?
This Is What It Means to Be a Christian: Become Like Jesus
Day 1
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English poet William Blake once said “We become what we behold.” It’s the reason we sound like who we surround ourselves with, or try to emulate the influencers we follow.
It’s why we want to buy the shoes everyone has, live in the neighborhood everyone wants, or get married when everyone else does. What we behold is constantly shaping our lives.
What are you beholding these days, and how are you becoming more like it?
The truth is the same principle works for our faith. As we behold Jesus, we will in time become just like Him, but that begs the question: what does it really mean to be like Christ?
Are we meant to emulate the very characteristics of Jesus? Are we supposed to match everything He did, to say everything He said, to mirror His life to the best of our ability? Can we really live that way? Can we really become like Him?
Today, we answer those questions and discover that becoming a “little Christ” is both a process and a lifestyle.
Summary
If we don’t start with the “why” of our faith, we will fail to live out the “what” – those practical, tangible ways we model what we believe. Copy these words from Paul’s letter to the Galatians into your journal or a note on your phone:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20
Look at the final words of that verse, “...by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Those words best illustrate the why: Jesus endured the cross, in love, for you. He died for you. And three days later, He rose for you too.
That changes everything! So, how should we respond?
Look at what the Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Church in Corinth:
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
Because we are convinced that Jesus died, we should live not for ourselves but for Him. Our lives should be like Christ's.
That is our first marker of our time together: to be a Christian is to be Christlike.
This looks like turning over our natural inclinations and tendencies in favor of those which align with the character of Christ.
That means we are to be more patient, more kind, more gentle, more generous, more loving. It means we daily lay down our desires to be vindictive, petty, lustful, or selfish. It means we are always willing to get out of the way so that Christ can be on display.
Does your life look like that? Or do your desires, your wills, your plans, your emotions place you center stage?
Look at what Jesus prayed in that quiet moment in the garden, just hours before He would go to the cross:
Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.
Luke 22:42
Do you see? If we are to represent the kind of love, compassion, and obedience Jesus modeled to a world desperate to see it, we are going to have to be willing to lay down our lives and submit ourselves to the process of becoming more and more like Jesus.
Remember what we said in our introduction, you will become what you behold. So will you behold Him? That process can begin today—are you ready to get started?
What's next?
How does Jesus’ love and sacrifice change the way we live?
What does it mean to no longer live for ourselves but for Christ?
Which of your natural tendencies need to be surrendered to God?
What step can you take today to become more like Jesus?
