Walk as He Walked...

I love sports. Not all sports... just American ones... baseball, American football, basketball. Don't hate me, but you can have your soccer and hockey. Now, as to the aforementioned sports.. they appeal to me. They have for as long as I can remember. I was around ten or eleven when I really began to take note of certain athletes. Ones I aspired to be like. My favorite growing up was Bo Jackson. He was a two-sport athlete -- football and baseball. He was a beast of a man. He was big and powerful, yet, on the ball diamond, he had a grace about him. He took swings that were mighty, yet smooth. His form in the batter's box was impeccable. In the outfield, he could chase down what would normally be gap-bound doubles with ease. If you've followed sports going back to the late '80s and early '90's, you may even remember the highlight of Bo making a catch on the dead run and running up the side of the outfield wall because his momentum couldn't be stopped. On the gridiron, his power evidenced itself again with the bulldozing of opponents. A running back that seemed to gain ten yards every carry. Most of those carries came with defenders on his back being dragged to the end zone. The man was simply the best athlete of the century. It was no wonder he had such an appeal to sports fans during his prime!

Bo Jackson was my boyhood idol. I wanted all things "Bo." Baseball cards, bats, caps, gloves, shoes, jerseys... if he endorsed it... I wanted it. I specifically remember a shirt I had that had his Los Angeles Raiders #34 and his name printed on the back. I loved that shirt. I can still picture it today. I wore it all the time because I wanted to be just like Bo. When I wore that shirt, I pretended to be him. I practiced hitting the baseball in his stance. I tried perfecting his swing. When I went out for little league, I picked out his Kansas City Royals #16. In every baseball game and football game I played, I tried to mimic his every move. His likeness inspired me. I wanted to be just like the great Vincent Edward (Bo) Jackson.

What is it about likenesses? Why are we so drawn to be like others? To get the answer, we must go back to the beginning.

At creation, man was created after God's own likeness. He made us to be like Him (Gen. 1:26a, 27a). God wanted a special being with which He could fellowship. He wanted us to have common qualities with Him, so he created us in His own image. But... we ruined His plan. Eve was deceived to believe she could be more like God than He intended her to be. She was discontent. She wanted more. When she and Adam took of the fruit, sin entered into God's perfect design and ruined the special relationship we had with God Himself. Consequently, sin separated us from Him and our fellowship with Him was broken. No longer did we desire righteousness. No longer did we look to Him. Sinful mankind took His place, and we began to look to each other as an avenue to attain God-like attributes. Conclusively then, the sin of discontentment tempts man to think that there is more purpose for him beyond his created purpose of having fellowship with God. It is our sinful nature that directs us to fallen men in attempt to discover that false sense of purpose. From my youthful, sinful perspective, being like Bo Jackson would have made me better. He was a god in my life, and I desired to be like him.

Even after such a heinous act of betrayal, God continued to love us. Despite our sin, He still desires us to be like Him. He desires to fellowship with us, but in order for it to resume, our sin has to be removed. For this to happen, He had to humble Himself and come down to earth in the likeness of man  (Phil. 2:7-9). This had to happen so He could die a sinless death for us and provide a way of salvation, beginning the restoration process. Ironically, He created us to be like Him... but in the end, He selflessly chose to become like us to redeem us. How many of the people whom we place on pedestals are willing to do the same?  We can try with all of our being to be like God, but we will always fail unless we trust Him as our Savior. Only then can we begin to live to become more like Him.

After salvation, we should show our love back to God by taking on Jesus' likeness. I John 2:6 says that if (conditional) we have trusted Jesus as our Savior (abide in Him), then we should "walk as He walked." In other words, we should be like Him. Jesus was kind, compassionate, loving, patient, gentle, truthful, generous, selfless and a perfect example of righteous living. We can never attain perfection, but we should always be striving to be more and more like Christ every day. The more we strive to be like Him, the closer our fellowship with God will be. As long as you strive to grow closer to Him each day, the fellowship will continue to get sweeter and sweeter until the day you see Him eye to eye... the day when that restoration process is completed.

The whole reason God created us to be in His likeness was for the purpose of having fellowship with Him. Our sin, however, came between us. The conditions for a restored fellowship lies in the salvation of man's soul and our desire to "walk as He walked." Do we desire a restored fellowship with our Creator? Following after sinful men won't put us on the path to that restoration. Only by trusting Christ and walking as He walked will accomplish it.