When I first came to Christ, the idea of being made more like Jesus was very appealing to me. After all, who in the world wouldn't want to be more patient or more kind like Jesus, or generous or peaceful or joyful like Jesus? Who wouldn't want to have a life that would reflect more fruit of the Spirit? Or who wouldn't want to have a life filled with the kind of love talked about in 1 Corinthians 13? I mean everybody wants to be like Jesus when they become a Christian. Like it says in Scripture, “God is love”. And I, for one, wanted to be more loving like Jesus.
Sweet and gentle Jesus, friend of children, friend of lambs -- that was my earliest impression of the Savior. You know, when you saw the Sunday school pictures of Jesus with lambs in His arms and boys and girls at His side and blue birds chirping around His head.
Then I began to grow up in the Lord. I noticed something odd as I flipped through the pages of the gospels. I was surprised to see that Jesus wasn't pictured that often with sheep or kids – oh, yes, sometimes for sure, but for the most part Jesus in the Scriptures is portrayed as confronting sin — pointing the finger at religious leaders and calling them a bunch of snakes, capsizing the money-changing tables at His Father's temple, clearing out the con men and rip-off artists, and even squaring off against Peter, one of His best friends, telling him in no uncertain terms to “get thee behind me Satan.”
I had to admit that my view of Christ's life was far too one dimensional up until then. Sweet and gentle Jesus did not look so appealing when He was probing, or exposing, or uncovering, or squaring off against rebellion, hating it as His Father did. Jesus understood that sin was a stinking, putrid offense against His Father's holiness, and that made it an offense to Him as well.
So, when I began to realize this, I prayed a little more soberly those requests of mine to be made more like Jesus, because I knew that to be asked to be made more like Christ was to ask to hate sin in my own life as He does — and to also hate sin in others as He does. To be conformed to the image of Jesus means much more than being made patient or kind or peaceful, it means being made to hate sin. And oh, do I have a long way to go. I am so far from considering my own sin as a stinking offense. How about you, friend? Do you pray to be made more like Christ? If you do, be prepared. You could be in store for some painfully revealing things about your own life. But remember, exposing sin is the only way to become more like Jesus Christ.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
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