Each month we’ll be hearing from one of our Regional Ministers, to encourage us along the way as we continue empowering missional disciples in our communities across the West of England.
Christian living is easy. We live in an age when many things are ‘shaping’ who we are. The challenges of living with Jesus is to grow to have Jesus Christ’s mind and the character of God. We are to learn to think and act like God.
When we become followers of Jesus, we die to our old way of life, we come alive to Christ. We learn that to be a follower of Christ means to die to our own self-centred ways of living. We are to become like Jesus and do the things he did, practice his ways.
Early Christians referred to themselves as “followers of the Way”. They saw themselves as walking with him, walking in his way, and in his ways, doing what he did.
THE WAY OF JESUS
If we think about some of the many things Jesus did, we might include performing miracles, healing the sick, teaching God’s ways, feeding people and washing feet and living a self-sacrificial life. 1 John 4:16 tells us Jesus came to show us what God is like.
John Mark Comer states that as follower of Jesus, disciples are called to:
- Be with Jesus
- Become like Jesus
- Do what Jesus did
Ephesians 5:1-2 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behaviour from their parents. ….. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. (The Message)
Jesus said in John 5:19 ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
How did he know what the Father was doing? He spent time with the Father. This is the way of Jesus. Whatever else God calls us to do he calls us to spend time with him so we can see what he is doing, learn his ways, and walk in them.
There are many ways we can spend time with the Father. It’s not complicated, but we must be intentional. We can:
- pray / be silent
- read the Bible / meditate on it
- rest (the sabbath principle)
- serve (not a task or a job but a way of life)
- obey (do what he says to you)
As we spend time with him, we get to know him better and we develop our relationship with him. Also, we learn his ways, the way of the cross. And with his help, we learn to put his ways into action.
LIVING WITH JESUS
Be with Jesus – Make it your way of life to spend time with him
Become like Jesus – Learn to be motivated by love
Do what Jesus did – Imitate him in everything you do
Gary Woodall
Regional Minister