“Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”* Live as Jesus did. Could this mean engaging spiritual practices and pushing into the kinds of habits that Jesus commonly gave himself to? The answer seems obvious. What else could “live as Jesus did” imply?
When I read or hear such statements as that, I’m initially tempted to surf past them. Like Whistler in the dark, I pretend I am not one of the people being addressed. It would seem a smart move, certainly a less troublesome one, to just ignore the line. After all, can the assignment really mean that?
Another response might be one of despair, Who can do this … Live as Jesus did?
I confess, however, in those times when I am even partly attentive to such statements, I will sense a gentle nudge – a whispered tease of the Spirit, “You did say you wanted to follow him?”
“Yes, I really did … and I do … but the truth is, I can’t. I stink when it comes to willpower. And I don’t do ‘alone’ well.”
“Exactly.” Those many times that Jesus rallied to put a distance between himself and the distractions pressing about him, he carried a deep-seated, consoling knowledge, “I long to be in the company of my Father.”
“I won’t be out there alone.”
“In whatever I do, I am doing it in his faithful, life-sustaining, companioning presence.”
With considerations like these visiting my heart and my mind, I begin laying claim to the truth that disarms my every objection.
He is enough.
*1 John 2:6
– ©2026 Jerry Lout Jerry Lout was raised in Okmulgee County. His two memoirs, “Living with a Limp” and “Giants in the Rough,” highlight the dual encounters with Polio and his decades living and working in East Africa. jerrylout@gmail.com, 918-857-4373
