Because He Is Fully Human, Jesus’ Life Is the Pattern for Our Lives

Section 4: Jesus

Week 1: Jesus Is Fully Human

Day 5: Because He Is Fully Human, Jesus’ Life Is the Pattern for Our Lives

Luke 3:21-22, 4:1-13

When we examined the image of God in the Humanity section, we noted that Jesus fully reflected God’s image in his life. He was able to do that because he was fully God. As a result, no one was better suited to show us what the image of God ought to look like. That is why the New Testament is full of calls for believers to imitate Christ. We were created to reflect God’s image. So, who better to imitate than Christ?

Jesus may have perfectly reflected God’s image because he is God, but our call to imitate him is dependent on the fact that he is also fully human and lived a fully human life. If Jesus had regularly relied on his divine nature, what hope would we have of imitating him? As our representative, though, Jesus lived his life primarily through his human nature. That means when we see Jesus in the gospels, we are looking at the model for how we ought to live our own lives.

That’s intimidating because while Jesus may have been living only in the power of his human nature, he still did some amazing things. How can we hope to imitate him? I mean, he turned water into wine, he healed people, he told storms to stop… and they did!

How did Jesus do those things? As God, Jesus had that kind of power within himself. As our representative, though, he had to work within the limits of his human nature. That meant he had to rely on the Holy Spirit’s power.

That’s how Jesus accomplished everything related to his mission. He accepted the limitations that were inherent to his human nature, and he relied on the Spirit to transcend them. How did he grow in wisdom? Learn obedience? Resist temptation?  How did he heal the sick? How did he find the strength to go to the cross? He relied on the Spirit to empower him.

Jesus didn’t try to accomplish everything in his own power, and neither should we. Because the Holy Spirit is at work within us, the same power that was available to Jesus is available to us. Our mission isn’t the same as his. So, we shouldn’t necessarily expect the Holy Spirit to work miracles through us the way he did in Jesus’ life. He will, however, work in us to help us accomplish whatever God has called us to do.

Reflection Questions:

Do you think of Jesus using his own power or that of the Holy Spirit during his earthly life?  Does it make a difference?  Why? 

Challenge:

Consider one area where you need the power of the Holy Spirit today. This may be resisting temptation, accomplishing a ministry, carrying out a relationship, etc. Take a few minutes and quietly ask the Holy Spirit to move through you in that area.