Let’s Not Excuse Our Lack of Christlikeness 

Recently one of my daughters and her family were in the candy-making town of Hershey, Pennsylvania. As part of their experience at that place, they had the opportunity to make their own special candy bars. If I understand it correctly, within certain guidelines they were able to choose their own ingredients and the proportion of those elements in each of their creations. When the treat was completed, it was a unique Hershey’s candy bar with that particular person’s name emblazoned on the wrapper.

It reminds me of our condition as followers of Jesus. All of us who are putting our trust in the Lord have a connection with Him. However, at the same time we each have our unique qualities. We aren’t all cut out of the same mold or possess the exact same characteristics, talents, or personalities. We all carry the name of Christ but with our own names identifying us as unique creations of His. We should all be like Jesus, but that image will look a little differently in each one of us. If I may use the candy bar analogy, we should all have a measure of the sweetness and love of Christ in us, but we will all have our own original taste. And no doubt about it, some of us are nuttier than others.

Therefore, on the one hand we need to be accepting of the kind of person we are. We shouldn’t think we have to force ourselves into somebody else’s mold of what a good Christian looks like. We shouldn’t think we are second-class citizens of heaven because we don’t have the same talents or personalities as others whom we admire. We each have our unique place in God’s world.

On the other hand, let’s be careful not to use that as an excuse for not allowing the Lord to change us or to make improvements in our character and conduct. Today’s society puts much emphasis on encouraging people to accept themselves as they are. And there is certainly a truth in that idea that many people could benefit from. However, let’s not resign ourselves to having to live with our faults, shortcomings, and definitely not our sins. There are aspects of ourselves we need to accept, but other areas of our lives that need to be transformed and improved.

Too many people excuse themselves and their bad behavior by declaring, “That’s just the way I am.” In some cases, they are rationalizing their lack of Christlikeness and their unwillingness to submit to God’s will. They settle for the way they are instead of allowing the Spirit of God to change them more into what He knows they can become. 

While there is room for diversity within the body of Christ’s followers, we all should be becoming more like our Savior. There are certain qualities and actions that simply do not harmonize with being a Christian. We shouldn’t be excusing our selfish actions, our arrogance, our loss of temper, our lack of self-control, our gossiping, our hatred, or our hurtful words by suggesting, “That’s just the way I am.”

As we move ahead into this new year, let’s lay aside that excuse and ask the Lord to do a work of transformation in our lives. Don’t accept sin and immorality in your life. Don’t resign yourself to being self-centered and unloving. Don’t accept our world’s idea that certain aspects of your life can’t be changed. Accept and celebrate your uniqueness, but not any ungodliness in your life. Let’s seek to be more like Jesus this year and submit ourselves to whatever changes the Lord wants to make in us. Be yourself, but be more like Jesus at the same time.