Why Become Like Jesus? Ep. 23

Sarah Annie Schneider: The Addicted to God Podcast. I'm your host and Bible mentor, Sarah Schneider, and I am addicted to God. I'm so glad you're joining me today. Addicted to God is a community of imperfect people who are pursuing a deeper, more intimate relationship with God. For over 20 years, I have been on my own addicted to God journey, and this movement was inspired by the hundreds of incarcerated women whom I have had the privileged mentor in my local jail. The more I learned about their addictive behaviors, the more I realized that my zeal to know and understand God's word was not is not that much different than their uncontrollable desire to use their drug of choice. So in a nutshell, addicted to God is where we transfer the unhealthy, unsatisfying, and in some cases destructive habits and choices To the freedom and fulfillment that can only come from the one and only healthy addiction, and that's God and his limitless word. So I do encourage you to please share this podcast so we can end addictions, encourage the defeated, inspire anyone who wants to have a relationship with God but does not know where to start. So let's get addicted to God together. In episode 21, read the Bible. Where do I start? I said that the ultimate goal of reading the Bible was to become like Jesus. Once I said that, I immediately thought if I had heard that as a brand new believer or someone seeking to understand God, Jesus, and the Bible, I would have been like, what? What does that even mean? Why would I want to be like a guy I'd never met, let alone this guy? Guy that supposedly turned water into wine, walked on water, and we hear about maybe every Easter or Christmas. Well, that's why in this episode I want to explain who Jesus actually is and what attributes make him worth following, and why becoming like him is the goal of every believer. Real quick though, I want to explain why I use the description believer. A believer is someone who believes that Jesus Christ is God's Son, came to earth in human flesh, was crucified on a cross, died, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day. And he did this to take our place, a death we deserved, because our sin separates us from God and access to heaven. Because Jesus was sacrificed in our place. By placing our faith in him, he provides us forgiveness for our sins. And in exchange for what he has done for us, we surrender our lives to him because that debt cannot be repaid. He paid the ultimate price by taking all of our sins. And the only way that he, the only thing that he asks us to believe it is to believe it, receive it, and live in gratitude for it. Romans 623 says that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. And when we make him the Lord of our life, our sins are washed away clean, and we devote our lives to following him. And by following him, we become like him. This alone is a reason to live like him. But what that looks like is a process. And that process is a big churchy word called sanctification. A few of my guests on this podcast have used it, so I thought I'd take a minute to explain what sanctification is. It is the beautiful, ongoing process of changing you from the inside out to make you more like Jesus. Think of it this way when you first come to Jesus because you believe, you ask him to forgive you of your sins that he had to die for. And guess what? If you are sincere and Because he's God, he knows whether or not you mean it, he forgives you. That's the big rescue. That's the moment you are saved. But the change that takes place in you after that doesn't happen in an instant. Sanctification is your daily walk with him. And over time, he cleans you up, heals your heart, breaks old destructive habits, and grows new and healthy ones. It's how you slowly become addicted to God. Instead of the things that used to control you. Sometimes it is a miraculous change. And I have heard testimonies of people who said I was on rock bottom. Doctors even told me my drug of choice would kill me within a year. I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior and never used again. No cravings, nothing. Just gone. And that's amazing, isn't it? For me, God cleaned up my language right away. It It really prevented me from being able to use God's name in vain. It was like nails on a chalkboard to me. So our verse, Mark 10, 27, said, What's impossible for man is possible with God. And he wouldn't be God or a God worth following if he couldn't do that. So devoting your life to him is so worth it. So Jesus. Why is it our desire to be like him? Well, first I have to establish a baseline of truth. Jesus is. A real person, not was, is. He rose from the dead and he is alive. I've mentioned it before, but a must-read or a must-watch movie is The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. Lee lays it all out. Evidence, facts, and the most comprehensive reasons why not only is Jesus who he says he is, but why you can stake your entire life on it. Great read. When you follow Jesus through Scripture, You get to see a character so rich, so surprising, so honest and witty, he genuinely becomes somebody you want to spend time with. Because being around Jesus is an adventure. And I am not exaggerating. So I want to use the remaining time that we have together to share 10 traits about Jesus that you can look for when you read about him. Are you ready to get started? I am. Okay, so who is Jesus really? His character, his personality, the qualities that make him unlike anyone else who has ever walked this earth. And rather than rushing through a long list, I really want to linger on each of these for a minute. I want you to feel why people dropped everything to follow him. Why broken, addicted, messed up people like me found themselves unable to walk away once they truly saw him for who he was. This is the Jesus worth getting addicted to. So here's the real answer to why you would want to become like Jesus. It's not about being religious or following religious rules. It's because every single thing you've ever chased, every substance, every relationship, every achievement was actually your soul searching for what only He can give you. When you become like Him, You love without the fear of being abandoned. You forgive without carrying bitterness. You have peace in the middle of situations that should ordinarily break you. You stop being driven by shame. And that's not religion. That's freedom. And that is what becoming like Jesus actually looks like. And so that's where these ten traits come in. Trait number one. Jesus loves with a real, fierce, unconditional love. First John 4 8 says, God is love. See, Jesus doesn't just love you when you're doing good. He is love. And Romans 8, 38 and 39 says, nothing, no past, no addiction, no shame, no failure can separate you from that love. Look at the woman at the well in John 4. She was a complete outcast, not only because she was a woman in a culture that didn't honor or even acknowledge women, but because she had been married five times and was living with a man that she wasn't married to. And Jesus went out of his way to meet her and offered her living water. Or in Luke 19, I love the story about Zacchaeus, a crooked tax collector, tax collector who cheated people out of selfish greed. Jesus called him down from a tree and invited himself into Zacchaeus's house. And then there's the leper in Mark I, diseased and completely untouchable by anyone's standard. Jesus reached out and touched him and healed him. In every one of these stories, Jesus moved toward people that everyone else rejected. And of course, while we're stuck in our sin, he went to the cross and died for us anyway. There is no better description of unconditional love. You see, we want to become like him because this kind of love breaks every chain of shame. When we receive it and start giving it, we stop living guarded and start loving people freely. The exact kind of love that sets us and others free. Trait number two Jesus is so compassionate at a gut level, moving towards you kind of a compassion. In Matthew 9, 36, it says, When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them. And it goes further to say, because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. I love that. Over and over, the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, one of those four books, they all reiterate that they tell us Jesus was moved with compassion when he saw the sick, grieving. struggling people or anybody that was outcast. Instead of staying comfortable or distant, he stopped what he was doing and moved into their pain. He healed them. He fed them. He gave them hope. He's not tapping his foot waiting for you to get yourself together. He is moving toward your pain right now or whatever you're dealing with that it seems over over overwhelming. And he meets you exactly where you are. We want to become like Jesus because This compassion keeps us from growing hard or numb or distant or withdrawn. It teaches us to notice the hurting people around us and respond with love instead of judgment or avoidance. Moving on to trait three. Probably my favorite. Jesus is forgiving even when it costs everything. Luke 23 says, while he was being crucified, Jesus looked at the people who betrayed him and mocked him, and he said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And in John eight, when the woman was caught in adultery, who was about to be stoned, Jesus stopped stood up for her and forgave her completely and told her to go and sin no more. He forgave before any apology, and while it cost him his life, he forgave. We want to become like him because Receiving his forgiveness lifts the crushing weight of shame and guilt. As we learn to forgive others the same way, we walk in the freedom instead of carrying bitterness. Trait number four, Jesus is emotionally honest and present. John 11, 35, which is the shortest verse in the entire Bible, simply says, Jesus wept. Even though he knew he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, he still cried with the grieving sisters. And in Luke 22, he's in the garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane. That's a hard word to say. He was in such deep anguish in that garden that he sweat like drops of blood, Scripture tells us. He didn't pretend or perform strength. He felt it. He felt it all. And he let it show. So that's why we want to become like Jesus, because this honesty and vulnerability gives us permission to stop hiding our pain. We learn to bring our whole heart to God. And that's where true healing begins. Trait number five: Jesus is joyful and extremely generous. In John 2, at the wedding, when the wine ran out, Jesus turned water into the best wine so that the celebration could go on. And in John 6, when thousands of people were hungry, he took the little boy's lunch and multiplied it to feed a feast for everyone. I have told you this verse. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. That's John 15:11. He brought joy in abundance everywhere he went. We want to become like him because His joy satisfies the emptiness we once tried to fill with all the wrong things. As we grow in generosity like him, we stop living in scarcity and start living with open hands and a full heart. God is generous. Jesus modeled it greatly. In trait six, Jesus is patient and he's persistent. He never gives up. In Matthew 16 and 17, Jesus asked his disciples more than once, Do you still not understand? And how long shall I put up with you? They constantly missed the point and even denied him. Peter failed him three times, yet Jesus kept teaching, correcting, and restoring him every single time. He never gave he never gave up on slow, struggling, or failing people. He is not keeping score of our stumbles. And he's not losing patience with us. He's right here. And he's not going anywhere. So the reason we want to become like him is because his patience keeps us from quitting on ourselves or others. It gives us endurance to keep showing up, even when we mess up. Trait number seven: Jesus is a servant and a great leader. In John 13, on the night he was betrayed, Jesus got down on his knees, washed his disciples' dirty feet, the job of a low slow of the lowest servant. And then he said, I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. What he's saying is, he wants us to serve other people and shows us how to do that, sacrificially and humbly. So reference John 13, 15, if you want to look up that verse. Another good one, for even the Son of Man did not come to serve, to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. In Mark ten forty five. He didn't just talk about humility, he lived it. We want to become like Jesus because true greatness in God's kingdom isn't about being in charge, having power or influence. It's about serving other people. This shifts shifts us from selfish living to To a life that actually makes a difference. Trait number eight. Jesus is courageous and truthful. I would say brutally honest. In John 4, Jesus told the woman at the well the hard truth about her life. And in Matthew 21, he flipped the tables in the temple when people were being exploited. He called out hypocrisy even when it made powerful people angry. He spoke truth and love. Even when it cost him. So we want to become like Jesus because this courage helps us stop people pleasing and hiding. We learn to face truths about ourselves and speak it lovingly to others, which brings us real freedom. And that's what we are always seeking. Trait nine: Jesus is inclusive and he sees the ones that nobody else sees. Think about this. After his resurrection, the greatest, literal greatest moment in history, Jesus didn't appear first to the religious leaders, the kings, or even his closest disciples. You know where he appeared? He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, who was a woman that at one time had been possessed by seven demons. Look it up in Luke 8, 2 or John 20. In that culture, a woman's testimony wasn't even considered valid. Yet Jesus trusted her with the most important news he ever told anyone. And he did the same with the thief on the cross in Luke twenty-three. The man had no time to clean up his life, no good works to offer. He was a criminal hanging on a cross next to Jesus, but he was desperate. At that very moment he said to Jesus, Please remember me. And Jesus answered in Luke twenty three, forty-three, today you will be with me in paradise. Not once you cleaned up your life, not if you can prove you've changed, not how many recovery programs have you done, how many startovers have you done? No, it's today, right now, just as you are. The religious leaders actually complained about him, saying, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them in Luke 15, too. They meant it completely as an insult. But I think it's one of the most beautiful things Jesus. I think it's one of the most beautiful things they ever said about Jesus. If you've ever felt like it's too late, like you're gone too far, like nobody would choose you, Jesus is looking straight at you right now. The same Jesus that said today to a dying criminal on the cross is saying to you today, you can have salvation. So we want to become like Jesus because once we truly receive that kind of radical welcome. We can't help but carry it to everybody around us. And Leslie, trait ten. Jesus is the truest friend you will ever, ever have. He says, I no longer call you servants. Instead I called you friends. For everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. That's John fifteen, fifteen. Jesus held nothing back. He shared his heart, his secrets, and his mission with his followers. And because of that friendship, Romans 8 17 tells us that we are co-heirs with Christ. Everything the king has is ours too. And in case you feel it, Jesus isn't a distant king who rules over you. He's a friend who sticks closer than a brother. He's the kind of friend who eats with you when you're when everyone else rejects you. He's the one who stays with you in your worst moments and who laid down his life for you. He's loyal, he's honest, and he's generous. He never will leave you or forsake you. So becoming like Jesus, it's when we learn to be that kind of friend to other people. And when we truly receive his friendship, our whole life will change. We stop feeling alone, we stop performing, we start living in the security of being deeply known and deeply loved. That kind of friendship with Jesus is. Is what we were made for. It's the sweetest part about being addicted to God. I hope you find all of these reasons so compelling that you are ready to throw open your Bible and you are extremely eager to learn about the characteristics and the traits that I've shared with you today. You see, Jesus is not distance, he's not boring, he is not soft, watered down, always smiling, fluffy. No. The world has handed you something that is not true. He is a sharp he is sharp but tender. He's patient but fierce. He's brilliant yet approachable. And he goes to parties. He flips tables. He weeps at tombs and silences storms. He calls sinners by name and changes them from the inside out. That's the most remarkable part. He is the most alive. He is not surprising. He's most captivating. He's the most captivating person that's ever walked the earth. And he wants a real relationship with us. Not a prayer you repeat repeat until it works, not a perfect church attendance, not a living, breathing, you know, just distracted addiction. He wants to transform every empty place that you've ever tried to fill with anything else. I've watched it happen to so many women who were absolutely certain that nothing could reach them. Women who have tried everything and decided that hope was for other people. And then they met the real Jesus in scripture, in prayer, in a moment, so quiet, you almost missed it. And something cracked open. The craving shifted. What used to satisfy doesn't satisfy anymore. And what used to feel impossible started feeling possible. That is the addiction we're chasing here at the addicted to God. Movement, not rules, not relate, not religion. We are seeking. A person, a relationship with Christ. I have a challenge for you this week, and it is to open one of those gospels. I love John, but Matthew, Mark, and Luke have some powerful stories as well. And then pray the simplest prayer before you read. Jesus, show me who you really are. And He will, because that's exactly who He is, the one who comes to you when He is called. So, friends. This is not the end of your story. This is the beginning of your rescue. And I'm truly thrilled to have you on this addicted to God journey with me, learning to trade every harmful addiction for the one that truly satisfies Jesus Christ and his life-giving word. So if today's episode stirred something in you, would you share it with someone? I want to reach people who are stuck. Who are feeling hopeless or helpless. You never know how God might use it to speak into their lives and spark freedom. And I'd also love to hear from you. You can find me at Sarah Annie Schneider on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Substack. Those are my four main platforms, at least today. And so I'm looking forward to connecting with you there. And of course, I am always looking for guests. I want to hear your story if you have been genuinely transformed by Jesus and if you've experienced what it means to transfer your worldly addictions to him. Please email me at addictedtogodpod at gmail.com. And don't forget, friends, come back next week and don't forget to choose the better addiction.