A quick online search for “How to Be More Like Jesus” garners 214 million answers! The ones you read give you a list of things you need to do to become more like Him. But what if God has already made us more like Jesus than we know from the first moment of our new birth in Him? Let’s take a look at Scripture to understand this better.
In this, love is made complete with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment because as he is, so also are we in this world (1 John 4:17). This Scripture clearly states we are already like Jesus. When we stand before God one day, we can stand there without fear of judgment. Why? Because we will stand there as if Jesus was standing there, too, because He is in us.
This is why verse eighteen encourages us with this truth. There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love. Did you know that our Father perfectly loves each of us in Christ just as much as He loves Jesus? Jesus assures us of this in His “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17:23, just before He went to the cross. I am in them, and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.
Let’s not miss something that is the key to understanding why we are already more like Jesus than we know. Jesus Christ is in us, uniting us to all that He is! Many Scriptures confirm this, but none more apparent than 2 Peter 1:3-4, His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. By these, he has given us very great and precious promises so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. Wow! God’s glory and His goodness have given incredible promises! These promises include Romans 10:9, If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
When we believe in Jesus, God promises that we will be in Him, and He will be in us. This union life with Him means that everything He is, we are, with one exception. We do NOT become divine. We remain human. Here are just a few examples.
He is kind, so we are kind. He is loving, so we are loving. He is holy, so we are holy. He is righteous, so we are righteous. He is generous, so we are generous.
The more we believe this good news of the gospel, the more we get to know who God genuinely is and who we are in Him. As a result, we are on a journey to live from this reality as our mind is renewed. We learn to rely on Him more, live confident in His love for us, trust Christ to live through us more often, love people more consistently, forgive quicker, etc. This is growing in the “grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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© Mark Maulding (But feel free to share this.)
