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School is back in full swing and the busyness meter just shot through the roof for me. It’s this way every year with the start of school, coaching, house system coordinating and so on. This year I added a master’s class into the mix. I guess I’m just a glutton for punishment.
At these times I find myself looking to friends of mine and wondering how they have it all together. The President of our school is like that, and there are times I think, “I wish I was more like Jim.”
That of course reminds me of the commercial from back in the day that told us all to be like Mike. “Be like Mike” simply meant drink Gatorade, because we all understood there was no being like Michael Jordan the GOAT. We simply could drink said sports drink and ACT like Mike as best we could.
There is a great distinction between those two words. Be means you are striving to be just like that individual. Act, well that means you’re faking it. You’re not sure how to BE like the person, so you’ll act like him, pretend to be like him. You’re trying, but if you don’t succeed, heck, you can just “fake it, ‘til you make it.”
I think we get stuck like this with the Lord, and our “fake it ‘til you make it” mantra takes over. This really hit me this past weekend as I sat in church and the pastor said, “We were not called to act like Jesus; we were called to BE like Jesus.” Many of you are probably thinking this is just semantics, but take it from an English teacher, words matter.
“God knew them before he made the world. And God chose them to be like his Son…” Romans 8:29 ICB.
This verse from Romans sums it up: God chose us to be like His Son, not to just act like Him. So much of the word “act” is tied up in the action of performing or pretending in some way. The difference in these two words makes sense when you look at what God wants us to do.
God isn’t looking for us to earn an Academy Award for playing Jesus. When an actor plays a role that isn’t them, sure, people may believe they are the character they play, but I’m pretty sure everybody still only knows David Schwimmer as Ross. But Ross isn’t David.
To be like Jesus means we do more than put on an act. We do everything we can to emulate our Lord in every way, every minute of every day. We were created in the image of God. We may have screwed that up with sin, but Jesus gave us the ability to get it back.
In other words, what if someone told you back in the day that you could really be like Mike? You could play defense, take the ball to the hoop and even stick your tongue out while doing it. I guarantee we would have jumped at the chance, yet so many of us don’t jump at the chance to be like Jesus. To walk in His footsteps.
It’s no easy task. When Jordan played, he had all the accolades, fans, and money, all of which eventually led to the Hall of Fame. Jesus had none of those things, and His path led to a cross, a cross that if we really want to be like Him, we pick up every day.
A big task has been laid out in front of us. I know that if I’m going to BE like Jesus, I’ve got to break it down. After all, God knows we are a work in progress, so let’s put in the work.
Pray
This is a must if we are to be like Jesus. If we aren’t daily asking for God’s help, we will surely fall short. God has promised He is there to help if we just ask. “The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.” Psalm 145:18. Plus if we are really trying to be like Christ but we don’t talk to Him or have a relationship with Him, well, emulating Him is going to be near impossible.
Practice
As a coach, I rather like practice. Part of practice is breaking down an overall task into smaller manageable things. If I see a player with several holes in her swing, I don’t try to have her work on them all at once. The job is too big and the player won’t get it, or will get discouraged when it doesn’t seem to come together perfectly.
If this is true in sports, wouldn’t the same apply with being like Jesus? I took a second and looked up the attributes of Jesus. Christway Counseling Center lists 49 character qualities of Christ on their website. How can we realistically practice 49 things at once? If we try to take on too much, we are setting ourselves up for failure and giving the devil fuel to attack us.
Instead, choose three character qualities of Christ and focus on those for a certain amount of time. Pray and pour your energy into those three. Watch how God uses you and those character attributes of His Son to impact the world.
Commit
Even if I tell my batter exactly how to fix the holes in her swing, if she doesn’t commit to putting in the work, it will make no difference. A swing isn’t fixed in one afternoon practice, and we don’t become like Christ overnight.
The practice must continue. It has to continue even when the player doesn’t feel like it. It has to continue even when the player is discouraged. Plain and simple, that commitment will change the way the batter swings, but that change takes constant work so that it doesn’t slip back into the wrong mechanics.
The commitment to be like Christ takes a commitment that is life changing. A commitment that will take the work every day.
As always, I know this is something I need to work on. So I went back to those attributes of Christ’s character. The three I will be working on are tolerance, joyfulness, and wisdom. Tolerance I need because there are just times when people get under my skin, but like Christ, I need to see past those things. Joyfulness, because when I get as busy as I am now, I allow that to suck the joy right out of my life. Finally, wisdom, because I need to see things from God’s point of view and react in a manner that Christ would.
The rest of this year, I will commit to try and follow in Christ’s footsteps when it comes to these three. I hope you pick three of your own and do the same. Until next time…
