Lord help me to be Christlike

So often times we pray to be Christlike in our lives and in doing so we think of being Christlike in our attitudes of compassion and nurturing spirit of servanthood to others. We want to be loving and kind as Christ was and that is good. However lets look at a broader picture of being Christlike. All through the Gospels we read about Jesus and His teaching, healing, preaching and miracles. Many times Jesus in misunderstood and His good deeds are seemingly tried to be turned into evil deeds by those misunderstanding people and even misunderstanding religious leaders started making accusations, speculations and presumptions about the Messiah because of their lack of understanding. Sometimes this lack of understanding was built on the fact the people didn't know why some things weren't being done, or said by Jesus in the timing the people thought it should be. In Matthew 17 after the transfiguration Jesus tells the disciples not to tell anyone what they had seen until after the Son of Man had been raised from the dead. In another instance Jesus heals two blind men and warns them to not tell anyone of what He had done for them. (Matt. 9:27-31)

There are other similar instances and in each one Jesus is persecuted to the point He is beaten, mocked, spit on, called all kinds of names and eventually crucified. Have you ever been that Christlike? I mean have you ever known you were doing God's will, and you were doing the right thing but others, including those of the church didn't seem to understand so they started persecuting you. You knew that what you had to do, and would like to share, was all according to the leading of the Holy Spirit, yet you couldn't share it until the time was totally right. See when Jesus was telling people to keep things to themselves it was for a reason. He wasn't trying to deceive people or mislead anyone, but to hold off until just the right time so that God could be glorified and God's will be fulfilled to the utmost. (prophesies fulfilled)

Similarly in our lives when we pray to be Christlike, sometimes being Christlike includes enduring some of the chastisement that comes from people, even those in the church, when they don't understand where we are coming from or going to. We know we are following God's will and we want to tell the world but the timing isn't just right so we must wait. Sometimes we are persecuted just because of our desire to follow Christ.

So when you pray to be Christlike, know this......there are two sides to being Christlike, but just as Jesus overcame His persecution and rose from the dead, we too can take comfort in knowing that that same promise is ours as Jesus tells us in the beatitudes of Matthew 5:10 "blessed are those who are persecuted for living for God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

In Christ's likeness

Wayne

Nourishment and Health

So today was cool. Tonight I met some of our youth group at one of the parks by a school in the 'hood. It is located close to where everyone is from and I had hoped to see lots of our young people after not seeing them for so long but, there were just a few. It was good though considering the only promo for it was a bulletin I sent out on myspace. Seeing these young people reminded me of a story.

There was a young man that was very thin and not very strong. He vowed to make himself stronger and gain weight. He signed up at a local fitness center and was very faithful in making sure he stuck to his workout regularly. After several months of faithful workouts the young man had gained quite a few pounds and was now getting quite strong. It was easy for this young man to be faithful in his workouts because he had a trainer and workout partner that would help hold him accountable and drive him to do his best. One day the young man's trainer was transferred to a new location and was no longer available. The young man vowed to continue the training he had learned from his trainer over the past year, despite the absence of the trainer. As time went on the young man became more and more irregular with his training, until eventually he had stopped training all together. It wasn't long after the young man had stopped training that he became thin again and seemingly had lost much of his new found strength. Then one day his trainer stopped in for an unexpected visit, and much to the trainers surprise the young man looked just as he did when the trainer originally started with him. The trainer was a kind man and instead of pointing out how out of shape the young man became the trainer let the young man know that he was back and would love to work out with the young man again.

This is exactly what I noticed with the youth I had been working with. For the entire summer they have not been around the church and haven't had a church to nurture them and help keep them spiritually healthy. These young people that had come so far in learning about a God that loves them and cares for them had seemingly slipped back to the very beginning of where they were when I first started with them. But have no fear, God has shown me the way and the need to continually feed His lambs, as He said in the Gospel of John while speaking to Peter. These lambs need constant and continual feeding, nurturing and love to stay healthy. I am sorry the feedings weren't available to them this past summer, but I know in my heart God is on the Throne and He will help me to be sure these young people never go hungry again.
In Him,
Wayne