To hear this Morning Devotion, please click The acid test of spiritual integrity
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Jesus was a master of bold statements that were both absolutely clear and absolutely true.
Particularly when it came to defining who He was.
Luke 10:37 is such a statement.
This verse was more than a simple identification, however.
It was an declaration of accountability for Himself.
“Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does.”
Wow.
Jesus was inviting the band of clergy-robed nitpickers known as the Pharisees and Saduccees to thoroughly check Him out as an imitator of God.
And then He told them — in effect — that they were off the hook in accepting Him if they could find any evidence that He had ever dropped the ball of faith.
That was incredibly gutsy.
It also demonstrated just how committed Christ was to imitating His Father.
Jesus, of course, did do those things that represented and imitated His Father.
You and I now have the opportunity for salvation because of Christ’s faithfulness.
I’m glad that Jesus was a flawless chip off the old block.
Make that a flawless, solid Rock off the eternal block.
As pleased as I was this morning with the knowledge that Jesus never failed to imitate His Father, I was also humbled by the knowledge that I haven’t been perfect.
The result? I can’t ask people to believe in Christianity just because I’ve always made the proper choices.
The fact is that I’ve messed up many times in one way or another.
So, then, how do I pursue the Great Commission of making disciples even though I sin now and then?
Here’s my idea — we do our best to imitate Christ in order to show our obvious need for a Savior.
As some people start noticing the increasing measure of godliness in our lives, we credit that change to the One who is our perfect role model, Jesus Christ.
For He never messed up.
That’s why we believe in Him and that’s why our unsaved family and friends need to believe in Him.
Listen, you and I will never be perfect on our own. We had that chance and blew it long ago in childhood.
We can still serve God in a powerful, perfected way, however, when we point people to Jesus.
We just have to apply the principle that Jesus applied to Himself and hope that people evaluating our lives will believe our testimony as we strive to love as Jesus did, pray as Jesus did, forgive as Jesus did, teach as Jesus did and so forth.
Hmmmm…..
The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of reaching out to others and holding myself accountable with the following invitation to others — “Do not believe me unless you see me doing what Jesus did.”
Please let me know if you decide to use the same standard.
As always, I love you
Martin
