“To experience the life of Jesus, we have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus.” Pastor John Mark Comer, in a sermon I was listening to recently, made that powerful statement. I’ll quote it again so we don’t move past it too quickly: “To experience the life of Jesus, we have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus.”
What is the life of Jesus? The life of Jesus is the full, abundant life. In John 10:10 our Lord says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Eugene Peterson in his The Message paraphrase says it like this: “I came so they [Jesus’ followers] can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” Following Christ shows us what real life looks like. This begs a clarifying question: “What does the real life of Jesus look like?”
When we look at the life of Jesus, we see that he was never in a hurry. He always took time to stop and be present with whoever he encountered. I see this in Jesus’ life when he stops his journey up to Jerusalem to stay with Zacchaeus the tax collector. Did Jesus have important stuff to do? Yes. Did he stop to hang out with a sinner and traitor? Yes. Jesus also wasn’t worried; he was a non-anxious presence wherever he went. In one story, the disciples were freaking out because a storm was threatening to capsize their boat. But was Jesus worried? No, he was asleep. I want to be that calm in the face of the storms of my life.
But, as Comer said, if we want these characteristics in our life, we need to do what Jesus did. What Jesus did was often get away to lonely places to pray (Luke 5:16). Jesus, being a good Jew, practiced the Sabbath. Jesus spent time in community. Jesus served others. Jesus knew his scripture. All of this takes time and effort, but the payoff is huge.
We all want the life of Jesus. We all want to grow in love, joy, peace, and self-control. But are we willing to do the practices that enable these things to flourish in our lives? Are we willing to live the way that Jesus did to experience the life of Jesus ? It takes time and effort, but the payoff is huge: full, abundant, eternal life.