Looking Like Christ

I have been thinking a lot lately about being like Christ and what that means. I think as Christians we need to look so much like Christ and so different from the world. Too often we claim Christ, but look just like the world which is opposite of Christ. If we are going to be called his disciples, we must walk as he did. We must walk the strait and narrow path that leads to life. We have the narrow gate part down, but not that path. We say Christ is the only way to eternal life, but we have forgotten that that path is also narrow. It is not about having an encounter with Jesus and then living how we want to, it is about having that encounter and then living as he did; different from the world.

When was the last time you were persecuted for your faith? When was the last time you were not loved by people because of your faith? I am reminded of when Jesus said:

18"If the world hates you (Which it does), keep in mind that it hated me first(Which it did). 19If you belonged to the world (Which you don't), it would love you as its own (Which it doesn't). As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me (Which they did), they will persecute you also (Which they will). If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.

I added some parenthetical expressions to help bring out the point that Jesus is trying to make in this series of conditional sentences. It is almost as if Jesus is saying, if the world loves you, you are doing something wrong. If you are not being persecuted because of Him, you are doing something wrong.

How willing are we to look like Christ? Looking like Christ is walking the narrow path. If we do not walk that narrow path of looking and acting like Him, we are walking down the path that leads to hell.