Live like Jesus

Binhi sang Pagtuo

January 18, 2010

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Greetings from the campus!

Next week, January 25-29, CPU will celebrate Christ Emphasis Week. The Pre-CEW for the Faculty and Staff will be on Friday, January 22, and for the Graduate School on January 23.

The theme for this celebration is “Live like Jesus” with the text coming from Philippians 2:1-4 “If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care — then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”

The phrase “Live like Jesus” is often heard because it is always preached by the church. But there is a nagging question that comes to our mind every time we hear the challenge to live like Jesus. The question is: can we really live like Jesus?

This is a very valid question because our faith declares that Jesus is God. This leads us to question our capability to follow the commands of Jesus because we are human. We belittle our humanity and blame it when we fall short. Filipinos have this expression, “sapagkat ako’y tao lamang.” Thus, when we hear the challenge to live like Jesus, we have in our minds some doubts that even if we try our best, we cannot really live like Jesus because he is God. And then result is that the commands of Jesus become ideals, and not imperative commands that need to be obeyed.

Paul addresses this issue of doubt. Philippians chapter 2 speaks about kenosis – the self-emptying of Jesus of his divinity to become truly human. “Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death — and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.”

This theological statement by Paul should be enough to erase our uncertainties and doubts that we cannot live like Jesus. Yes, we can live like Jesus with the grace of God through our faith in

Jesus the Christ!

May God bless us all!

Sincerely yours,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Assistant Chaplain