Hard To Be Like Jesus

My last couple of posts are about fifteen years old, and this one is too.

I once wrote them and this one on a blog entitled “Ways To Find Jesus Captivating” that was started by our former pastor on the website of our old church, the church where Karen and I first met, married, and began our family.

For some reason that title, “Ways To Find Jesus Captivating,” resonated within my soul, and I started writing things and kept on writing.

I’m reposting these old posts here not because I’ve run out of new things to say, but because they are still true, at least for me they are still true.

Also, I guess that maybe I’m trying to reconnect with myself, a self I once knew, and get back on track from where I left off.

It’s kind of embarrassing looking back and not seeing much progress in my spiritual life other than the passage of time which brings me second by second closer to finding out for sure whether or not my possibly imaginary Friend, Jesus Christ, really is only imaginary.

But my money says that He is NOT imaginary.

In fact, I bet that Jesus Christ is as REAL as I AM . . . and actually more so.

See what I did there? Only Bible geeks will get it.

Anyway, I wrote the following thoughts fifteen years ago.

. . . .

The best way I’ve found to find Jesus captivating is also the way hardest for me. That is to simply obey Him.

This means to me doing what I read in His Word and also doing what His Holy Spirit impresses on my conscience that matches what I’ve read in His Word.

I know this may sound like the apple-polishing kid in school who always had to try to impress the teacher with the “right” answer, but it’s also the truth.

I know it’s the truth because Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will obey Me.”

I also know it’s the truth because in decades of knowing Him, it’s been the one way I’ve experienced the most joy.

I can describe that joy as a thrill or excitement that’s a little foretaste of what I expect to experience one day when I get to actually see Jesus face to Face!

And as I wrote this, I remembered what someone who now does see Jesus face to Face once said when he was here with us looking forward to the day he got his turn.

Rich Mullins once said that people often ask him “how to feel close to God,” which I think is another way of saying “find Jesus captivating.”

Mullins said that he had to tell people this truth that he had learned in his life.

“Closeness to God is not about feelings. Closeness to God is about obedience. It’s just as simple as that . . . I don’t know how you feel close to God, and no one I know who seems to be close to God knows anything about these feelings either. I know that IF we obey, occasionally the feeling follows, not always, but occasionally. I know that if we disobey, we don’t have a shot at it.”

. . . .

But Rich Mullins also sang about how HARD it is to be like Jesus.

And I’m inclined to agree with him.