Like Christ

Like Christ February 24, 2012

I am so frustrated as of late because I keep going back and forth between books and I cannot stay on one book. I have what my mother would call, ‘a nest,’ built in my living room. If you are an avid reader much like myself, and somewhat scatterbrained, then you may know what I am talking about. At the foot of the coach is a pile of bibles, commentaries and various other books that pertain to the 14 subjects I am currently studying. I don’t think it is bad studying that many subjects, it is just difficult to keep them all separated. *Authors note, I may have exaggerated a little bit with 14 subjects. After a quick count I have roughly five different studies going. One study on the Gospel of Matthew, one on the Gospel of John, one study on the book “Like Christ” by Andrew Murray, one study on the book “Not a Fan” by Kyle Idleman and finally a study on a book that I just received called “Song of Solomon for Teenagers” by Chris Ray. It would be easier to not read so many books at one time if I would stop purchasing books at such a rapid rate, but in my defense the authors also do not stop writing books, so what is a guy supposed to do? The Song of Solomon book came to me via email from youth specialties. So far it is a fabulous book where the author takes and breaks down the Song of Solomon into terms that are reasonable and giggle-free for teenagers. I am looking forward to developing this book into a study for my students. However that is not what I am blogging about today. I wanted to discuss another study I am doing on the book by Andrew Murray called “Like Christ.” Now I have spoken of this book before and I am a huge Andrew Murray fan. He really takes this idea of being a follower of Christ and takes it to the next level. On page 36 of his book Mr. Murray says “There is nothing that weakens the power of Christ’s Example so much as the thought that we cannot really walk like Him.” WOW! What an amazing thought. Not only are we fools to believe that we cannot be just like Christ, but we are actually weakening His witness by not walking as He walked! So while there will be those who call me self-righteous and arrogant for trying to be just like Christ, I can tell them that they are being terrible users of the gift that Christ has provided us with. To not be just like Christ is a waste of every last lashing that He took for our sins. Murray goes on to say “Jesus is my Example because He is my life. I must and can be like Him, because I am one with Him. Grant this, my blessed Lord, for Thy love’s sake. Amen!” I think that those words need no explanation only praise.

Andrew Murray also speaks about suffering as a process to becoming more and more Christ like. Again I find this timing a bit interesting, but he says this, “If one do well, and suffer for it, and take it patiently, this is acceptable with God; such bearing of wrong is Christ-like. In bearing our sins as Surety, Christ suffered wrong from man; after His example we must be ready to suffer wrongfully too. There is almost nothing harder to bear than injustice from our fellow-man.” He continues on, “In what our fellow-creatures do to us, it is not easy at once to recognize the will of God, who thus allows us to be tried, to see if we have truly taken Christ as our example.” Basically what he is saying is that God allows me to come into this trouble to see if I shall glorify Him in it.

I know that people love to say, “Well if God is such a loving God then why does He allow bad things to happen?” How about the fact that the worst possible thing that could happen to Him did. He sent His Son to die for us. So for us to get so depressed when our light bill isn’t getting paid or our water pump on our 1997 Ford Festiva goes out. Things happen in our lives, which we consider “bad” so that we can show our commitment to Jesus through our constant determination to make it through the storms of life. If life were one free flowing river of water then there would be absolutely no honing process, or no need to desire a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.

So what’s the point? What is the reasoning behind becoming more and more like Christ? Where does becoming a better person get me? You don’t have to be a “good person” to be in the government because a majority of those people are so immorally corrupt. So what point or reward is there for becoming a better person? Besides the fact that it is good for your own conscience, if we were all immorally corrupt what would our world look like? Nobody really knows that for sure, but if I believe what the bible tells me, at some point this world is going to face some terrible times and our ethics and morals may be tested to the fullest.