1 John 2:6 “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”

If you look at statistics, over two billion people in the world identify themselves as Christians. This is a greater number than any other religion. With such a high number of people calling themselves Christians, you would think that the world would be much different than it is now. You would think peace and love would reign supreme in the hearts of men.

Yet when we look around the world, we see wars, hatred, rape, and murder. We see the very opposite of what Christianity stands for. We may see many people calling themselves Christians, but we see very few people walking as Jesus walked.

How did Jesus walk?

Jesus had a walk of forgiveness. When John and James wanted to call down fire on a Samaritan village that wouldn’t receive them, Jesus rebuked them and said that he came to save lives, not destroy them. Even on the cross, Jesus asked his Father to forgive his murderers. How many people truly have a heart of forgiveness? Too many would rather hold a grudge against someone than forgive.

Jesus had a walk of compassion. If you look at Jesus’ ministry, much of it was spent ministering to the sick. When a leper came to him for healing, Jesus reached out with compassion and touched a man that others would shun. When people were hurting, Jesus wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. What about us? Are we willing to get out of our comfort zone and show compassion?

Jesus had a walk of sacrifice. People expected the Messiah to come as a conquering king. Instead he came as a suffering servant. He came to serve, not to be served. He lived his life sacrificing his time and energy for the benefit of others. Then he made the greatest sacrifice by dying on the cross to pay for our sins. Will we sacrifice our time and energy for others?

Do we want to call ourselves Christians? Then we are going to have to walk like Jesus.