Searching for Truth

What are some of the spiritual activities that Jesus did while He was on earth? As we search through the gospel accounts of His life, we can observe the things He did, some of which are often called spiritual disciplines: activities that Jesus Himself participated in. These are actually things that we can do in our lives that invite God to work changes toward Christlikeness in our spirits: changes that we otherwise could not make with our own strength or power. Once a person has decided to follow Jesus, he is determined to learn as much about Him as possible. One is able to get a clear picture of the kind of person Jesus is by studying the gospels intently and purposefully, learning from other disciples, and praying to our heavenly Father asking for His help to enable us to become like Jesus. As we learn the kinds of behaviors and activities found in Jesus’ life, we can emulate them in our own lives.

Becoming a true follower of Jesus is not going to just happen. It takes a conscious decision on our part and a determination, conviction, and zeal to seriously follow Him. Unfortunately, we are living in an era where being a Christian and being a disciple of Jesus are not necessarily viewed as being synonymous. Superficial or nominal Christianity has pretty much become the norm in most churches. Many have the attitude that since Jesus was perfect; we can never really be like Him, so discipleship is unrealistic. Yet the scriptures make it abundantly clear that following Jesus, learning from Him, and becoming like Him, is the true essence of Christianity. Therefore, I commit myself to learning from Him so that I can emulate His actions and become the kind of person He was and is. I must simply be convinced that being an apprentice of Jesus is the greatest thing I can do with my life. Discipleship, then, is a conscious choice; a decision made with faith and conviction that I will follow ...

Jesus told people to follow Him. Peter said that Jesus left an example of how to live our lives, and that we should follow in His footsteps (1 Peter 2:24). How can we be true disciples of Jesus? How can we actually be as if Jesus Himself inhabited our bodies and lived our lives? What would that look like? How can we truly follow Jesus? There are definite steps we can take. Perhaps the first thing we can do is to sincerely and repeatedly pray to see Jesus just as He really is in order that we may have a clear understanding of what His life looked like. Not only should we see Him in the gospels, but we should also see Jesus as He has lived in the lives of many of His disciples in the past as well as the present. It may even be helpful to write out our prayer or to journal our thoughts regarding our desire to truly see Jesus as He is. The next step to take is to use the means that God makes available to us that will allow us to see the reality of Jesus. In John 8:31-32, Jesus makes it cle...

Our being transformed to be like Christ is not a merely human attainment, but rather the work of God: a gift of grace. Grace is God acting in our life to accomplish what we cannot do on our own. Grace does not make us passive, and in the process of spiritual formation, human effort is indispensable. Paul, who perhaps understood grace as none other says, “By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me” (2 Corinthians 15:10). 2 Corinthians 3:18 tells us that “we are being transformed into his likeness… which comes from the Lord.” God is the One who changes our hearts to be like Jesus.

Each one of us is a disciple of someone, or perhaps even several people. They helped to shape our spirits and determine who we are. We are the disciples of our various teachers, peers, parents, or others with whom we have established relationships and influenced our lives. As Christians, we are to be disciples of Jesus. If we are to be disciples of anyone, we are going to have to be with them. A disciple or apprentice seeks to be like the person they are studying. Whether one learns the piano, baseball, fishing, a foreign language, sewing, or almost anything, they have to be with the one who teaches them. For me to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is for me to determine that I am going to be with Him, so that I may become the kind of person that He is and be capable of doing the things that He did. We should live our lives with Jesus in order to learn to be like Him. Jesus is so wonderful in every respect that we delight in Him and seek His presence. We enjoy being taught and helped by Hi...

God is spirit, and He seeks those who worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). He is looking for people who devote their whole being to Him. True life comes from God, and is found only through Jesus. He has life in Himself, and only He can infuse our lives with spiritual power - God Himself. Paul speaks of those in the church at Corinth who are “spiritual,” and conversely, those who are “carnal” (1 Corinthians 3:1-4). What is the difference between Christians who are “spiritual” or “carnal?” A spiritual Christian is one whose life is integrated into and dominated by the Spirit of God. To be a “spiritual” person in the biblical sense, we must become people whose spirits have been formed to be like the very Spirit of Jesus Christ, having a love relationship with God and one another. Christianity is experiencing life with God. Too many have wrongly assumed that spirituality is accomplished through the correct mode of baptism, the scriptural observance of the Lord’s Supper, or th...

Most of us desire a relationship with Jesus that is growing and maturing, hoping and praying we are actually becoming more like Him! Our relationship with Jesus will develop the more we understand how much God loves us. Psalm 103:11 tells us that God love for us is as high as the heavens. This is amazing when we realize that astronomers and scientists only speak of the “known” universe, fully admitting that no one knows how far it actually reaches. As new and better technology and equipment enables us to look farther and farther into outer space, and as new discoveries continue to be seen, still it just goes on and on. And that’s how much God loves us- more than we can know! Deep and abiding relationships usually take time to develop. We’ll never truly know Jesus until we learn to recognize and live in His abiding presence. God transforms us through every day life experiences as we live them in the presence and power of Jesus. We should live our lives with Jesus in order to learn to b...

If we are going to develop an intimate relationship with Jesus our Lord and Savior, we are going to have to realize how much He loves us. Love and intimacy go together. Love and intimacy grow together. We don’t become intimate with someone we do not love, nor someone who does not love us. In our search for intimacy with Jesus, we begin by asking you to think about how much He loves you. 2 Thessalonians 3:5 says, “And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God...” You are loved by God. But do we really understand what that statement means? Sometimes love is difficult to define. In fact, love virtually defies description, so much so, that most attempts to capture its true essence in words inevitably fall short. Love is powerful and transforming. Love is amazing, incredible, and awe inspiring. When we experience true love, how is it possible to describe all the wonderful feelings and thoughts that simultaneously converge in the depths of our heart? In fact, we may sometimes stru...

Our spirit is the part of us that is like God. Our spirit is the center of our consciousness: It is who we are – our person. The spirit is the source of all that we think and do, having the ability to choose, resolve, or determine. In the Bible, this “will” or consciousness is often referred to as the “heart.” Spiritual formation is the process we go through in which our spirit is given a definite form or character. We all have become or are becoming people with a certain kind of character and personality. Many things have helped to determine how our spirits have been formed up to this point in time in our life. Just as our physical body is constantly changing, our spirit is always being formed as well. Jesus came to show and teach how God intends for us to live. He is the Son of Man who explains everything that a human being is supposed to be. In the New Testament, spiritual formation is the process of forming our inner man so that it takes on the character of the inner being of Jesus...