"He who says he abides in Him, ought himself also to walk just as He walked." (1 John 2:6)
C. S. Lewis, in a wonderful place in Mere Christianity says, “The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs—” (That’s what Christian means—a little Christ; an imitator of Christ.) “If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose.”
(Redeemer Church - Brian G Hedges)
The main purpose in the Christian life, is to be like Jesus. To do that, one must get to know the Lord intimately. That is not an easy thing to do, while we battle with our sinful nature, and long to gratify the desires of the flesh. We are constantly wanting to know the ways of the world, instead of abiding in the way of the Lord Jesus.
To abide in Jesus, is to love Him more than anyone, or anything, in the whole world. Nothing will come before Him in our lives. And if we love Jesus, we will stay focused on His teachings, and His will for our lives. In doing this, it will affect all the other facets of our lives. Our relationship with Jesus will affect our lifestyle, our relationships, our worship, and ministry. We will be like Jesus to our families, our friends; to all that we interact with.
It has to start with a strong relationship with Jesus. Without this, how can we be all that He wants us to be, and do all that He wants us to do. When Jesus makes a difference in our lives, we will be making a difference for Him, in more ways than we ever thought possible. GP
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