A Heart Like His

A Heart Like His
Ephesians 5.1-2
1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

In Genesis 1 we are told that we are made in the image of God: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1.27). As we well know, sin distorted that image. Through Christ, however, we are called to be imitators of Christ. Ephesians tells us to “[b]e imitators of God.” We are to “live a life of love, just as Christ loved us.”
This means that our hearts must be like Christ’s heart. The once-stylish bracelets proclaiming, “What Would Jesus Do?” really asks, “How can our lives imitate Christ?” This is a question we ought ask ourselves every day. Are the things that we say, the actions we take, the attitude we have both in ourselves and towards others, reflective of God?

It takes discipline to begin to think in this way. It is a total mindshift. We must learn to process and filter the thoughts of our hearts before we speak. Is what I’m about to say/do reflective of Christ? Beloved, sadly it is often not. We need heart transplants: we need the heart of Christ. We need to consciously shift our human nature to a godly one. Instead of complaining about someone under the guise of, “I’m just trying to help them,” we should instead help them in the way Jesus would help them—pray and act towards them in a way that builds them up, not tears them down. It is the same in every scenario of life. When we force our hearts to be like Christ’s, we are “[being] imitators of God.” We begin to “live a life of love.” We begin to be like Christ.

If there is an absence of love in your life, if your heart is not like Jesus’, you need to come to Him today and begin a heart transformation. Your heart will not change overnight, but with discipline and a continuously steady and renewing focus on Christ, God will begin to sculpt your heart until it is in His image. Amen.
With love in Christ,

Austin Aldrich