Imagine For One Day - Guest Blog by Sarah MacKinney

I want you to imagine this....imagine for 1 day, Jesus were to become you for a full 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, 86,400 seconds....Jesus wakes up in your house, goes to your job, watches your kids, carries out your daily routine. Your kids are now his kids, your neighbors are now his neighbors, your boss is now his boss. Imagine if for that 1 day, 1,440 minutes, 86,400 seconds....Jesus lives your life but with His heart. What would that look like?

Max Lucado talks about this in his book, “A Heart Like Jesus”.  He says, What would you be like? Would people notice a change? Your family – would they see something new? Your coworkers – would they sense a difference? What about the less fortunate? Would you treat them the same? And your friends? Would they detect more joy? How about your enemies? Would they receive more mercy from Christ’s heart than from yours? And you? How would you feel? What alterations would this transplant have on your stress level? Your mood swings? Your temper? Would you sleep better? Would you see sunsets differently? Death differently? Better yet, would you still do what you are doing?

Think about that, if Jesus took over your heart for 24 hours, walked in your shoes....how different would your life look? I guarantee that we would be less judgmental, less gossipy, more giving, more thoughtful, more forgiving. But this is how we should live every day. Our lives should reflect His heart by the way we treat people, the things we talk about, the attitudes we have, etc. When I think about what Jesus was like, several adjectives come to mind.

I believe that Jesus was very compassionate. We see it throughout the Bible. His whole life really was a mission of mercy. I think of the stories I read about that show His compassion. The Bible actually tells us that He was MOVED by compassion. Oh, that we would have a heart that is moved with compassion for people. I don't want to be too busy with my own agenda to overlook hurting people who just need some compassion. I think about the times in my life where people were moved by compassion and came to my side in times of need. I am sure you can think of those times in your own lives as well. What a beautiful representation of Jesus, when we show compassion to the hurting and broken.

I think of the stories in the Bible like the story of Jairus’ daughter and the woman with the issue of blood. Jesus was moved by compassion for these people, even though He was a busy man. I took a strengths finder test one time and my number two strength came up as empathy. A fellow pastor's wife told me that it is a very bad characteristic to have as someone in ministry. She said that having empathy allows people to take advantage of you. But I disagree! A heart full of empathy and compassion is such a beautiful portrayal of a God who has the same for us.

Another adjective to describe Jesus is courageous! I looked up phobias on Google and there are a ridiculous number of phobias. These are just a few that I found:

*agyrophobia is the fear of crossing the street

*arachibutyrophobia- Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth

*chronomentrophobia- Fear of clocks

*consecotaleophobia- Fear of chopsticks

*hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia- Fear of long words; (35 letters in just the word!)

There were page after page of names for fears. We all have them. I have an intense fear of flying. I fear losing one of my children. After we lost our daughter from a stillbirth, this intensified my fear, and to be honest, it is something I work on every single day. What may seem silly for one, is very real to another.

But I look throughout the Bible and I see Jesus was courageous in so many situations that He would have been justified in having fear. But He did what needed to be done because He was mission-minded.

What do you need to do? What fear is holding you back?

Jesus was a man of courage. The courage He displayed is a great model for all of us to follow. In spite of ridicule, in spite of opposition, in spite of the cross that stood before Him; He chose His Father’s will. The definition of courage. -Deuteronomy 3:16 says, “Be strong, take courage. Don't be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won't let you down; He won't leave you.”

Things in the world right now are pretty scary! Everywhere we look we see despair and pain and fear. But look up child! We know who wins!

The final characteristic of Jesus, which also happens to be my favorite, is servanthood. Jesus was the epitome of a servant! Webster's Dictionary defines servant as a person in service to another. Can you think of anyone who displayed that any better? Jesus lived His life in service to others. A servant is someone who does things for others even when it may not fit into their schedule, helping even when nobody's watching. A servant does what needs to be done because they are motivated by love.

The Bible uses the word “servant” 885 times in the King James Version. That is a lot of references to a really important calling! We really have 2 choices. Either we can seek to serve ourselves or we can learn to live life as servants. What are some ways that you can serve people where you live, in your community, in the people that you come in contact with every day?

Maybe it looks like giving a weary mom a few hours break by watching her kids or helping someone unload their dog food at the store. Perhaps it is sitting down and just listening to someone who is going through a hard time. Or buying groceries for someone in need.  There are thousands of ways that we can serve each other every single day.

If we want to have a heart like His, we have to be servant-minded, following His example of servanthood. Jesus washed feet, healed people, took time for people, fed people and the list goes on and on! I know that sometimes we grow weary. I am a mom of 5, I have a full-time job and I help my husband in ministry; not to mention trying to keep the house clean, maintaining friendships, etc etc. But the Bible tells us to not grow weary in doing good! What a reward we find when we keep going! Great leaders are also great servants.

Our goal as Christians should really be to be Jesus with skin on.

-finding ways to serve like Jesus did

-showing compassion like Jesus did

-being courageous like Jesus was

 -one of my favorite quotes is from the book “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan, “The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you are doing, God wants to be glorified, because this whole thing....is His.”

This doesn't mean that we are perfect. It doesn't mean that we won't miss opportunities to serve, show compassion, or be courageous. It means we try every day to do better than the day before. It means our heart’s desire, fail as we may, is to point the broken world to an extraordinary Savior.