Be Like Jesus
When I was a young Christian as a teenager, I often remember hearing the phrase, “Be like Jesus.” It wasn’t always that exact phrase. Sometimes, it was, “You need to become more Christlike.” Other times it was, “WWJD,” and I was supposed to ask myself, “What would Jesus do?” Then I was supposed to do that. If I did, then I would be more like Jesus.
The point was clear. I had accepted Christ as my Savior and was going to heaven, but now the goal was to be like Jesus.
I think that is what many of us are taught. You have a salvation experience and are gifted eternal life through faith in Jesus, but you are told that you are not like Jesus. Therefore, you need to become more Christlike.
But is that true?
No.
YOU ARE NOT WHO YOU ONCE WERE
See, the mentality mentioned above makes it seem like nothing happened at the moment of salvation other than your sins were forgiven and got a spot in heaven. Now, don’t get wrong; those are big things! However, Scripture indicates that so much more happens to you at the moment of belief in Jesus.
INDWELT BY THE SPIRIT
In Ephesians 1:13, the apostle Paul declares this truth:
When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.(Eph. 1:13-14)
Notice, the opening phrase, “when you believed.” At the moment of belief something happened. The Holy Spirit came to dwell inside of you.
He wasn’t there before, but now He is there.
UNION WITH CHRIST
When the Holy Spirit came to dwell in you, you were united into a spiritual union with Jesus. The apostle Paul declared that to be true in his own life in Galatians 2:20 where he said that Jesus lived in him.
He would even go on to say this in 1 Corinthians 6:17:
17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. (1 Cor. 6:17)
You are in Christ and He is in you. You are joined to Him in a forever spiritual union. You are one with Jesus.
NEW CREATION
Through your spiritual union with Christ, you have become someone new. Here is the way it is described in 2 Corinthians 5:17:
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Cor. 5:17)
If the old person has passed away and you’ve become a new creation, then you are not who you once were. You are different now.
How different are you? Radically!
NEW NATURE
As a new creation in Christ, you have been regenerated (Titus 3:5). You’ve been born again and are no longer spiritually dead, but spiritually alive!
Through your spiritual rebirth, you are given a new nature (Romans 6:2-7). You had one kind of spiritual DNA that resulted in death, but since you were born again in Christ, you received His spiritual DNA through your union.
Here’s the way Paul puts it in 2 Peter 1:4:
4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature. (2 Peter 1:4)
Look at the last part of that verse. You “share his divine nature.” In your spiritual union with Jesus, He shares His divine nature with you.
If you are a new creation in Christ and share in his divine nature, then guess what that means?
YOU ALREADY ARE LIKE JESUS
The moment you put your faith in Jesus for salvation, you became like Jesus. Not through behavior or anything on your own, but through His work of salvation.
Salvation does not just include forgiveness and a place in heaven. Through salvation you are changed. You are indwelt by the Spirit, joined into a spiritual union with Christ, made into a new creation, regenerated, and now share in His divine nature.
You don’t need to become like Jesus, because you already are like Jesus.
In Christ, you are holy, righteous, and have become a saint. You were not like Jesus before, but you are not who you once were. The person you are now is like Jesus.
GROWING UP INTO WHO YOU ALREADY ARE
Now that you have been made like Jesus, He will grow you up into who you already are.
It’s like a caterpillar. If you were to take the DNA of a caterpillar, you would take a look at the results and say, “Wow, it sure looks like a caterpillar, but it’s nature is that of a butterfly!”
It may not look like a butterfly at this point outwardly, but one day it is going to grow up into who it already is (a butterfly) and fly away.
You may not look like Jesus on the outside because of your behavior, but if you are in Christ, you are like Jesus on the inside. Over time, He will grow you up into who you already are (someone like Jesus).
In other words, when we are told that we need to become like Jesus after our salvation experience, it implies that we are not like Jesus and therefore need to become someone different than we are in that moment. That is not true.
We already are like Jesus and simply need to learn how to act out of our new nature. The more we learn about our new identity in Christ and how much like Him we already are through our union with Him, the more we will learn to live out who we are in Him. All this of course is also a work of the Spirit’s revelation and power through us. It is not a work we do on our own.
We are receivers. Through faith in Jesus, we receive forgiveness. We receive the Spirit. We receive new life. We receive a new nature. We receive Christ-likeness.
We are branches. Jesus is the Vine. We receive and the Vine outwardly produces visible behavior, character, and actions that are consistent with what was already on the inside.
