31 Days toward Maturity in Christ — Day 17
February 24th, 2008 Posted in 31 Days toward Spiritual Maturity, Growth
BECOMING LIKE CHRIST — From Parking Lot to Road
I recall an episode of the old Gunsmoke TV series. The story involved a preacher who dressed in black and was always preaching about righteousness. He also consistently wore a stern look on his face, as if he regularly used prune juice in his Communion services. He was a husband (and maybe a father, too; I don’t remember). He treated his wife harshly, and it was quite a contrast. He was supposed to be a man of God - a preacher - yet he was making life miserable for his wife. What’s wrong with that picture? What’s wrong is that the preacher wasn’t very Christ-like. (Of course being Christ-like isn’t limited to preachers. We’re all meant to become more and more like Him!)
We start our spiritual journey rejoicing that we’re accepted as we are by Christ and forgiven by Him, if that’s what we want. However, Christ doesn’t want to leave us as He finds us!
Parking lots are meant for cars, but cars aren’t really meant for parking lots. Cars are meant for roads! People don’t buy a car to leave it permanently parked; a car is meant to take you places. Our faith isn’t supposed to be a parking-lot faith; we’re supposed to take it on the road!
In the previous step we focused on how we’re to LEARN FROM CHRIST. However, we’re not supposed to stop there: we’re to apply what we know. One day when Jesus was surrounded by people who were listening to Him, someone told Him that His mother and brothers wanted to see Him. Jesus used that as a teachable moment: He said, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” (Luke 8:21) In other words, the people Jesus is close to are those who are not only willing to hear what He says, they apply it to their lives.
The writer James in the New Testament used the analogy of looking in a mirror. Who looks in a mirror but then doesn’t do anything to correct whatever doesn’t look very good? James wrote, “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22)
When we take God’s instruction book - the Bible - seriously, we’ll find that it changes us to be more like the One whose book it is. The apostle Paul wrote about the Heavenly Father that we’re supposed “to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, . . .” (Romans 8:29) Ravi Zacharias, a best-selling Christian author and a defender of the Christian faith, wrote, “The ultimate calling upon the follower of Christ is to live a life reflecting who he is . . .” (Beyond Opinion, p. xii)
Dave
