Day 18

If we try to imitate Jesus’ behaviour, we will become extremely discouraged, or become a massive phony, pretending to be something we know we are not.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.”   —JOHN 1:1–3

When the beginning began, Jesus Christ was already in existence, co-equal with His Father and the Holy Spirit. In fact, He wasn’t just there when the beginning began. He began the beginning, for…. “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.” 

Christ is not only the originator of the universe, but He is the glue that holds it all together. “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17)

The pinnacle of creation was the creating of human life. Christ created humanity as a visible physical expression of His own character. This, of course, is not by our imitation of God, for that is impossible to us. It is by the indwelling presence of God, through His Holy Spirit, who alone has the capability of expressing His own character. It is our privilege to be the means of that.

Jesus, as a man, demonstrated the nature of true humanity. He claimed He could do nothing Himself, but only as He allowed His Father to be the source of His words and His works would His humanity display the activity of His Father. He said to Philip, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” (John 14:10)

If we try to imitate Jesus’ behaviour, we will become extremely discouraged, or become a massive phony, pretending to be something we know we are not. But if we look at the source of the life of Jesus, His dependence on His Father and His obedience to His Father, we pass the responsibility to God Himself to work in us and produce an expression of His character – which is how Jesus lived as a man on earth. And that is how the Christian life operates.