Becoming Like Jesus: Spiritual DisciplinesSample

Be Perfect

So, what was Jesus like? He was perfect. He never missed the mark on loving God and others. He desired God, trusted God, knew God, and served God. That worked itself out in how He treated people—especially the least, last, and lost.

Remember, discipleship is the process of becoming like Jesus so we can love God and others the same way Jesus does.

So if we are becoming like Jesus, does that mean we need to be perfect? We’re wrapping up this Plan by talking all about that.

But first, let’s pray.

Pray …

Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Jesus to save me. I’m different because of Him. Help me to never forget Your love and Your grace. Show me how to live for You. I want to make Jesus’ habits my habits so I can grow as a disciple. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Read …

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48 NIV

Consider …

We’re finishing with another excerpt from the Sermon on the Mount—a collection of Jesus’ most famous teachings. Again, this sermon is so special because it teaches us what the kingdom of God is all about and what life is like when God’s in charge. When He’s first. When He’s King.

God’s kingdom is marked by a new and different way of loving: the way God loves.

How does God love? He doesn’t play favorites. There’s nothing you can do to make God love you more, and there’s nothing you can do to make Him love you less.

And His love is gracious and merciful—He gives it to us freely even though we can’t earn it and don’t deserve it. God causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, because His love is full of grace and mercy.

What does this mean for us? Well, the passage ends with a charge to be perfect, which means complete or whole, like God is perfect, complete, and whole. This means becoming someone who loves the way God loves, to love justly and full of mercy, not allowing our expression of love to be incomplete but perfect—to be completely representative of the way our God and King loves.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus tells us why loving like this matters so much:

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35 NIV

The world will know who Jesus is by the way we love.

This is the assignment our King has given us: to paint a picture of the better-than-anything life Jesus offers by the way we love each other. This is a hard task, but we’re not on our own to accomplish it. Our King is with us, prepared to guide us every step of the way. And we have His habits to help transform us—heart, soul, mind, and body—into people who can love God and others in the same way He does.

Practice …

Whatever you do, don’t stop here. Spend some time today answering the same questions you answered toward the beginning of this Plan. This is a habit called self-examination—inviting God to search you and help you see how He sees.

• How are you doing at loving God and others? If you had to rate yourself, just today, on a scale of 1-10 (10 being loving just like Jesus), what would you give yourself and why?
• What’s one thing you can do tomorrow to move closer to a 10?

Now, with that information, check out the rest of the Becoming Like Jesus Collection and pick the spiritual discipline God is asking you to focus on.