Just Like Him

Wow, Jesus was incredible in the way He acted towards people who hurt Him. It was if they had never even hurt Him. He loved them, even though they betrayed Him, He loved them even when He was falsely accused and punished. He said: “Father Forgive Them For They Know Not What They Do.” Just Like Him, we can’t be that way without the strength of El Sali, the God of our strength. Our human condition is not able to be like He was. Without God empowering us, we are not good, nor do we react godly when we are intentionally hurt by others.

How do you continue to love people who hurt you, time after time? How? How do you act Just Like Him. If they hurt you, how do you turn the other cheek? If they betray You and cruelly punish you, how do you forgive them? If they falsely accuse you and treat you like you don’t matter, like you are trash under their feet, how do you even want to ever be a part of their life again? How can we be Just Like Him when our heart is broken by people who just don’t care if they hurt you as long as they have the narcissistic control over you?

I desire to be like Jesus, but I don’t have the power to do so. I know what the Word says. It says forgive over and over again 70x7, keep forgiving. I know that Jesus said: Love your enemies, pray for those who cruelly persecute you. I know He forgave, just like we never even hurt Him. But how can I? How can I Be Just Like Him? The more people hurt me, the less I want to be in their lives. So it begins with less is more. Less of me, more of Jesus. He must increase, I must decrease. How do you do it? Be Just Like Him? The more that I get hurt by the same people, the more they punish me for something I did not do, the more that they reject me, the less I want to reconcile with them. I don’t want them in my life. But, this was not like Jesus, He was not this way. He was a Reconciler. Look at Peter, He forgave Peter and made Him the Cornerstone of the church.

If I call myself a Christian, than no matter how I “feel” about people who have treated me cruelly, and stolen from me things I can’t ever get back, I must forgive. Just Like Him. I can’t do this on my own, so I need to have a conversation with God about how I “feel” and I need to ask Him to fortify me by His Truth, to strengthen my will to do the right thing, be be Just Like Him. I can’t do this on my own. This I know. If I want to be “Just Like Him” and forgive like I have never been hurt, pray for those who cruelly persecute me, then I must yield to God, I must decrease, He must increase.

Believe me, it is a process. We want to hate, we want to hurt, we want to walk away forever and disown those who are treating us with so much emotional cruelty, as they try to punish and ghost us because we would not come under their narcissistic control.

To Be Just Like Him… It is all about letting go and letting God Work, it is all about recognizing we can’t fix it, but God can. It is all about letting God lead, choosing to be like Him, and be empowered by His Holy Spirit to be so. It is all about followship, day to day being found in Him, refocusing from what the enemy is doing, to what God is doing, and leaning into Who God is, and how and why He is trustworthy to finish well. I desire to be Just Like Him, so the best thing for me is to yield to Him, to His way, His timing, His methods and I wait in hope that He will deliver me from the enemy of my soul. He will deliver me from false accusations, bad assumptions, condemnation, emotional pain, human punishment and He will make a way for me that no man could make, only as I become Just Like Him, as I act, Just Like Him out of the power of His Holy Spirit.