Living A New Life

The followers of Jesus are called by various names in the New Testament – disciples, believers, even saints, but the most important one is Christian. We are not entirely certain how the name originated, only that it identifies us with Christ and shows our allegiance to Him. To be a Christian is simply to be like Jesus. It is to be His follower and to be like Him in the way that we think, act, and live.

Living like Jesus is never easy. It is, in fact, the most difficult thing that you and I will ever do. Perhaps that is because to live like Jesus, we must live for Jesus and not for ourselves. In one of His most paradoxical sayings, Jesus put it this way: “‘He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it,’” (NASB, Matthew 10:39). Finding and losing, losing and finding – isn’t Jesus a little mixed up here? It certainly may seem that way at first. In reality, however, those who have whatever they want and live only for themselves will never need Jesus. And if we don’t need Jesus, then we will never find Him. It is only in losing ourselves in serving Jesus and living like Him that we will find true meaning in our life and the happiness that is so hard to find.