The Beauty Of Christlikeness

The Beauty of Christlikeness

Rom 14:7-9

An Ancient Prayer;

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me.

Christ within me, Christ beneath me,

Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ in the fort, Christ in the chariot seat.

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me.

Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

A lot of Christianity today is disappointing because it falls short of Christlikeness. People naturally expect that we who profess Christ as Lord of their lives will be like Christ. Paul in Phil 2:5, says: "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus." In other words, be Christlike. Christlikeness cannot be achieved by simply trying to be moral.

The Christlike life can only be achieved by holy men and women. There must be the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart; the cleansing of the blood; the heart purified by sanctifying grace.

Let’s look at Rom 14:7-9

“For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living”.

To be Christlike includes Righteousness, Compassion and Love. When the Spirit descended on Jesus it was in the form of a dove. Consider the dove;

The dove hath neither claw nor sting, Nor weapon for the fight,

She owes her safety to her wings, Her victory to flight.

Christlikeness in the believer produces longsuffering for righteousness sake.

Archbishop Fenelon of France, after experiencing trouble and persecution was advised to take precautions against the evil designs of these men. He is said to have replied, 'let us die in our simplicity.' Those in Christ, have a purity of purpose, completely different from those all too common among worldly men. The Holy life is not fearful of being examined. The one who is ruled by Christ Jesus continuously asks himself, “Father, what do you want me to do?” Or, “What am I supposed to learn from this situation?”

Christlikeness will produce reasonable and correct dispositions towards our self-will. It will seize inclinations o fanaticism. We will be teachable and obedient. We will be considerate of others and their opinions.

We certainly do not see much of that in our world today. If you disagree with some people about anything, political policies, interpretations of Constitutional Amendments, whether you are left leaning, right leaning, if you have long hair or short, if you like one sports team or another, anything becomes an excuse to attack and belittle simply because you disagree. Listen, Jesus didn’t always agree with everybody, in fact most of the time He disagreed with them, but He never attacked people personally about anything other than their need for salvation. He was the one attacked! His response, Jn 8:40 “you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God”. We should be willing to stand up for the things of God. But be sure it’s of God! A lot of people tend to confuse personal conviction with Biblical truths. Don’t be guilty of that! Study the Word of God so you will know what is Biblical and what is opinion.

We will lift the lamp of the Lord or we will be left in the darkness beyond the scope of reason; and the one who scorns reason is left to the hallucinations of his imagination, instead of the dictates of common sense. And certainly common sense is not very common today! People debase the Word of God and claim some inspiration contrary to both reason and the Word of God. Look, we all have our own opinions about some things. If someone disagrees that doesn’t mean anybody is wrong! I like blue, Zoranda likes purple! Well okay maybe that’s not such a good example…she is definitely wrong! But you get the idea, right. I have said in the past that if everybody thought just like me they would all be after Zoranda!

We should learn through the Holy Spirit to walk, talk, eat, sleep, stand, sit, and breathe just like Jesus. That’s Christlikeness!

Someone once said, "It is by looking to Jesus or looking at Jesus, that we are changed into his image." To be assimilated into His likeness, partaker of His nature, to be one with Him! Jesus is molding and fashioning each of us after His own likeness! Our souls are in His hands as clay in the hands of the potter. Jesus is making us glorious within, to be like Him! Fix your eyes on Him. By looking at Him we become conformed to His likeness! "Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer from all sin. This is the only way to abide in His love, and to have continued victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil; keep looking at Jesus.