“Jesus teaches you to live your life as He would live your life.” This is a quote from the book, “Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth”, by Hugh Halter. When I read that, I was struck by how at once the statement is so simple, yet the implications are enormous. How would Jesus live my life if He were me? What if, instead of using the miracle of the virgin birth 2,000 years ago, the way God chose to reveal Himself to the world was through my life? How would I live? What would I do? In what ways would my life be different? What if He chose to use your life?
While thinking this through, it would be easy to dismiss it as a clever writer’s use of hyperbole. Except that it isn’t. God has indeed chosen each one of His children to reveal His character to the world. He created us for this very reason. Our mission since the day we were born has been to glorify God and reveal His true character to the world around us. To those who have believed in Jesus and surrendered our lives to Him, the very spirit of God has been placed within us. This indwelling is not in a theoretical sense. God’s Spirit, the very essence of who He is, resides within us. Have you ever really taken the time to wrap your head around that?
Hang with me for a minute here. Since God is spirit, there is no beginning or end to His being. He is not constrained by any single dwelling. That means all of God exists within each of us. All His power, all His love, and all of His mercy reside within our human shell. All that He is is at our disposal at all times. Therefore, Jesus lives within us. This means that He indeed is living our life with us. Even more importantly, it means we have the power to live our lives exactly as Jesus would live it because He lives in us. This is mind-blowing, but if you will take the time to ingest this truth, it will radically change how you approach every moment for the rest of your life.
You can live your life as Jesus would live your life, but it will take a conscious choice on your part. I recognize that none of us has the faith to consistently utilize the power of God available to us. We are the created, not the Creator. Still, we can live much closer to the standard Jesus set for us than most of us imagine. Satan knows we are easily distracted and uses every tactic at his disposal to make us forget about the power we have inside. Because the devil is petrified we might use that power against him, his best defense is to convince us we aren’t worthy or capable of yielding such power. But he is a liar. Remind him of that fact when you wake tomorrow. Ask God to help you remember that His power is within you, and that you are called to live your life as Jesus would live your life. And then live it.