Reflect Jesus
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Romans 8:29
All those who accept Christ as their Lord and Savior will be molded by God to conform to the image of His Son. This means when people see us they see something different — they see the heart of Jesus. Reflecting Jesus is a process that continues throughout our lifetime on earth.
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7) The Lord is molding us to reflect Christ. If we pray for his divine help to reflect Jesus, then we will become more like Jesus. We continue to reflect Jesus, but we have the power of God to help us.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) The fruit of the Spirit is love, and the remaining fruit is how we show love and reflect Jesus. Some of the fruit will be easy and some will be difficult. For me, it was difficult to attain patience and self-control, and this is what I prayed for everyday. When God’s love increases in our heart, reflecting Jesus becomes more natural.
He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city. (Proverbs 16:32 NASB) This stresses the importance of controlling our emotions, not just anger but all emotions, because Satan normally tempts us through our emotions. This was my biggest battle since I had an anger problem from age of 7 to age of 62. At the age of 59, I gave my life to Christ and three years later my anger was gone. With prayer and God’s love in my heart, I continually struggled to control my anger and, eventually, my anger decreased until it was gone.
Whatever we need to overcome, pray for the Lord’s power to make it possible and struggle to overcome. There are many hurts in our life that we carry in our hearts, and God has the power to change our hearts. Depend on the Lord, take your baggage to Him, and ask him to take it away so you can be free. When we are free, we will reflect Jesus.
Today reflect Jesus by showing the fruit of the Spirit, and pray for the Lord’s help. People will see Jesus and the power of Christ in you. In many places in this world, we are forbidden to speak about Christ, but we can always reflect Jesus by reflecting the fruit of the Spirit.
Prayer: Lord, help me to reflect Jesus and fill my heart with your love. In Jesus’ name, Amen