Week 2 – Day 4
How do we do what Jesus did?
Do what Jesus Did. A commitment to doing life His way.
Our end goal of discipleship is to grow and mature so that we can carry on the work of Jesus – ‘to do what He did’. So - what did Jesus do?
First and foremost Jesus’ life was centred on bringing an understanding to humanity about the Kingdom of God. His sole purpose and passion was to provide a pathway for people to find eternal life through Himself. If you were to ask yourself if your burning passion on a daily basis was to help people connect with God and His Kingdom, what would your response be?
On a practical level, if we were to compile a list of all that Jesus did on earth, it would be extensive. Including healing the sick, doing good, casting out demons, preaching the gospel, eating & drinking (particularly with those who didn’t know God), making disciples, living in fellowship, praying in solitude, living sacrificially with joy, maturing through trial, all done through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit ..... a tall order indeed!! Is this what he’s asking of us?
A few things to consider when pondering this question:
For those of you old enough to remember the 1990’s, many will recall the phrase ‘What Would Jesus Do'. A great reminder if you had the infamous wrist bands with the WWJD letters printed on it! However, in reality, Jesus was a middle aged, single man who lived 2000 years ago in the Middle East. How do we apply that to our society and culture today?
Perhaps a better question to ask would be ‘what would Jesus do if he were me?’ If Jesus had my gender, my age or stage of life, my upbringing, lived in my neighbourhood? What would He do? How do I live life His way through the power of the Holy Spirit?
Also, good to consider, does applying WWJD differ in your life to the life of your work colleague? Most certainly it does, you may need to slow down your pace of life, learn to be more present with people in the moment and truly listen to their journey. Your colleague may need to do the opposite and stop watching Netflix, get up off the couch and find a community of people to wrestle out their faith on a more consistent basis.
Doing what Jesus did will look different for all of us as we are all at different stages of our discipleship journey, have different personalities and gifts. The key is to be aware of what the Holy Spirit is prompting you about personally and commit to obey Him when His still small voice comes.
First and foremost Jesus’ life was centred on bringing an understanding to humanity about the Kingdom of God. His sole purpose and passion was to provide a pathway for people to find eternal life through Himself. If you were to ask yourself if your burning passion on a daily basis was to help people connect with God and His Kingdom, what would your response be?
On a practical level, if we were to compile a list of all that Jesus did on earth, it would be extensive. Including healing the sick, doing good, casting out demons, preaching the gospel, eating & drinking (particularly with those who didn’t know God), making disciples, living in fellowship, praying in solitude, living sacrificially with joy, maturing through trial, all done through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit ..... a tall order indeed!! Is this what he’s asking of us?
A few things to consider when pondering this question:
For those of you old enough to remember the 1990’s, many will recall the phrase ‘What Would Jesus Do'. A great reminder if you had the infamous wrist bands with the WWJD letters printed on it! However, in reality, Jesus was a middle aged, single man who lived 2000 years ago in the Middle East. How do we apply that to our society and culture today?
Perhaps a better question to ask would be ‘what would Jesus do if he were me?’ If Jesus had my gender, my age or stage of life, my upbringing, lived in my neighbourhood? What would He do? How do I live life His way through the power of the Holy Spirit?
Also, good to consider, does applying WWJD differ in your life to the life of your work colleague? Most certainly it does, you may need to slow down your pace of life, learn to be more present with people in the moment and truly listen to their journey. Your colleague may need to do the opposite and stop watching Netflix, get up off the couch and find a community of people to wrestle out their faith on a more consistent basis.
Doing what Jesus did will look different for all of us as we are all at different stages of our discipleship journey, have different personalities and gifts. The key is to be aware of what the Holy Spirit is prompting you about personally and commit to obey Him when His still small voice comes.
APPLICATION
Take time to think about what would Jesus do if He were you living in your body, your home with your job, friends & family.
What is one thing you can do today, that you haven’t consistently done before, that you could imagine Jesus doing in our current society if He were here?
What is one thing you can do today, that you haven’t consistently done before, that you could imagine Jesus doing in our current society if He were here?
PRAYER
Lord, thank you for the deep privilege of learning more about you so that we can do what you did here on planet earth. Would you continue to show me what you would do if you were me on a daily basis. I want to have a passion to help people connect with you, would you birth that freshly in my spirit today.
You could also pray:
- Over someone in your life, that they will have a fresh encounter with the Jesus today.
You could also pray:
- Over someone in your life, that they will have a fresh encounter with the Jesus today.
- For a greater passion to obey the Holy Spirit prompts on a daily basis.
HELPFUL READINGS
Scripture:
Acts 10:38
Luke 4:18-19
Podcast:
Acts 10:38
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Luke 4:18-19
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Podcast: