If I'm to be Christ-Like...

...what does it look like?

I’ve been mulling over this question in a quiet corner over my overly active brain, trying to grasp the essence of Who I should be emulating.

Some parts of His person come to mind more quickly than others: His humility, grace, love, perseverance, devotion to God’s pleasure (and success!), imitation of God, resistance to sin, patience in suffering, search for the lost, sacrificial generosity.

But this I am wrestling with: Jesus was consumed with zeal for God. He destroyed the tables of the moneychangers because they desecrated the house of God. He called the false religious leaders white-washed tomb-stones because they pretended purity, while inwardly indulged in vice. He even turned away some half-hearted followers with the blunt edge of truth.

It’s easy to perceive Jesus as the lamb led to slaughter and imagine that I should be demure, avoiding offense at all costs. But Jesus was also the majestic lion, King of Kings, on fire for God’s name. If the righteous are as bold as a lion, where is my boldness for the truth? If we are to be zealous for righteousness, where is my zeal for God’s honor? Is it my place to denounce false teachers? False teachings? Do I have that authority? Can I control my own emotions with enough purity to be sure that the zeal consuming me is godly and not of my own flesh? How can I be, at once, both gentle as a dove and wise as a serpent? Meek as a lamb and bold as a lion? A humble bond-servant, yet a faithful witness of God’s Holiness?

In this is my dilemma.

This is my hope: that in being more with Christ, I shall become more like Him.

Lord, I bow before Thee humbly,
Kneel and plead that Thou consume me.
Nail in farewell to Thy cross
The parts of me both flesh and dross.

Unite in me Thy perfect zeal,
Humility and power revealed
To spring from Thee and Thy control
To work Thy will and please Thy soul.