How To Develop Christlike Attributes In The 21st Century

The question of what it means to be `Christlike’ or `following in Christ’s footsteps is one that has been debated for generations. Christlike attributes are qualities exhibited by Jesus as recorded in the Bible. We need these attributes because we all have sinful natures and we need to be able to relate to each other the way Jesus did. And being Christlike will help us overpower our sinful nature and become more like Jesus and less like our fleshly nature.

Being like Christ must be our ultimate goal as Christians. To be able to act, think, talk and behave in every sense of the word, the exact way that our Lord and Saviour Jesus did. These attributes will also help us to build stronger relationships and not just with those who share our faith, but with those who don’t as well.

Being Christlike will help convince non believers of the true existence of Jesus through seeing the way we live our lives. To be able to walk in Jesus’ footsteps, we must be able to assess how exactly He walked himself.

How do we become more Christlike?

Here are 10 Christlike attributes that will help us to become more like Jesus and less like ourselves:

1. Empathy

Empathy is a human quality as well as one of the 10 Christlike attributes that enables us to step into someone else’s shoes. And experience what they are going through.

Jesus is the ultimate example of empathy. He always put himself in someone else’s shoes and was able to see things from their perspective. Even when He had to deal with people who were less than empathetic themselves. He did it in a way that was gentle and firm. Jesus was an empathetic person and He even said to love your enemies.

Empathy is a way for us to connect with people who are different from us because it allows us to understand them from their perspective.

In order to become more empathetic, we need to put ourselves in other people’s shoes. We can also get more empathetic by listening and asking questions about how someone else feels and views things.

2. Compassion

Jesus was the perfect example of compassion. He showed compassion to people who were different from him. And He took care of those who were less fortunate.

Jesus was compassionate. He treated people with dignity and respect. Always seeking to understand their needs. Jesus also demonstrated his care for those in need by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and providing shelter for the homeless.

As followers of Christ, we must strive to always practice compassion and serve the Lord with gladness as it is one of the Chritlike attributes

3. Being peaceful and forgiving

Jesus is the perfect example of peace. He was peaceful in his home, He was peaceful in society. And He was peaceful even with those who killed Him. He taught his followers to practice peace individually and collectively.

Jesus taught his followers to practice peace individually by seeking the most amicable resolution in disputes, avoiding quarrels and being forgiving of one’s self and others. Jesus also taught people to seek peace collectively by living peacefully with one another.

Peace and forgiveness are Christlike attributes that show us that even when people disappoint us or hurt us we must still maintain peace as well as forgive them. When Jesus was being arrested for crucifixion. And Simon Peter cut off the ear of Malchus, one of the High Priests. To prevent them from arresting Jesus.

Jesus demonstrated a Christlike attribute of peace and forgiveness by putting the ear back onto the person who was sending Him to death. He also told Simon Peter that those who live by the word will die by the sword. This is a way to encourage peace at all times. Regardless of the situation, always avoid contention.

4. Mercifulness

Jesus was merciful because He was patient with people who made mistakes and those who did something wrong.

Jesus showed mercy to everyone, regardless of the person’s background or what they may have done. Jesus was patient and forgiving with people who had made mistakes, and those who even did something wrong.

An example of Jesus’ mercy was forgiving the Roman soldiers at the cross also show his mercifulness. After they had mocked him, tortured him, in the end he still asked God to forgive them as they knew not what they were doing.So being merciful is one of the Christlike attributes that are expected from followers of Jesus.

Jesus was merciful to the people He encountered. He showed mercy to those who sinned and those who were not able to help themselves. Jesus’ mercy is a good example for us because even if we are not perfect ourselves, we can still show others forgiveness and compassion.

Jesus said that it is important for Christians to have the same attitude as the Father has towards them. The Bible tells of how Jesus exercised his divine power on behalf of a multitude of sinful people, “to set them free from all their sins.”

5. Purity of heart

Pure in heart is the state of having a pure and sincere mind set. It is not just an empty statement but rather something that requires constant vigilance.

Every moment of our lives, we are faced with thoughts that are either good or bad, helpful or harmful. The key to being pure in heart is to have good thoughts and feelings.

The only way to get rid of bad thoughts and feelings is by replacing them with good ones. There are different ways to do this – meditation, mindfulness exercises, prayer, – all which can help us find peace. The ultimate way is to renew and transform our minds in order to have the mind of Christ.

As followers of Christ we must have clean hands and a pure heart if we want to be like Jesus. Purity of heart is one of the Christlike attributes that is very important.

6. Patience

There are many examples in the bible where Jesus told his disciples that they needed to wait, as His time hadn’t yet come. And these disciples were becoming impatient, but Jesus knew better to wait for God’s timing.

Patience applies to patience with God and also patience with men, situations and so forth. The bible says those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.It shows how waiting is most certainly a virtue. Most people are simply incapable of waiting. When they want something, they need it done ASAP. So the prospect of waiting will be a great challenge.

We must also wait on God and His promises. The bible says the promises of God are Yes and Amen. Which means all we have to do is accept them as they are already given to us.

Then what will be left is waiting for God’s timing. God’s timing is the best. And like the bible says, ‘When the time is right, I the Lord will make it happen”. So don’t worry yourself, trust God that He will watch his word and it will certainly not come back void.

7. Kindness

Kindness is an important trait in the Christian life. The Bible gives us many examples of kindness and how we can live with kindness.

Kindness means that we forgive people, even those who have hurt us. Not because they deserve it but because God also forgave us. This is what kindness is. Being nice does not mean that people will be nice back. I know this from experience.

Some people may be rude or say something that is hurtful, but being kind to them is more important than the hurt they have caused.

We should never let a person’s rudeness stop us from showing courtesy and respect, even when they do not deserve it.

Jesus commanded us to be kind to everyone. So in order to be like Him, we must practise kindness.

8. Not being jealous of other people’s possessions or successes

Jealousy is an emotional and cognitive state that causes insecurity, fear, and anxiety in one’s relationships. Jealousy often consists of a combination of emotions such as anger, envy, annoyance, resentment, inadequacy, and sadness. It often arises from feelings of inadequacy.

Jealousy is being angry because someone has something that you do not have. We should be content with what we have and not compare ourselves to others.

The bible contains a number of examples of jealousy, and the lack of jealousy is a Christlike attribute.

When we eliminate jealousy we are well on our path to Christlikeness. One of the best examples of jealousy and its effects is the story of Joseph and his brothers. His brothers were jealous and hated him because their father Jacob loved Joseph more than the other children.

Their jealousy was even worsened when Jacob gave Joseph a beautiful robe. And they planned to kill him because of a robe!! When Joseph started telling them about his dreams where they would supposedly will be bowing down to him, their anger and jealousy increased and they planned to kill him. What started as mere jealousy quickly grew to anger and rage which made them to consider killing their brother.

If left unchecked, jealousy can be detrimental to us as believers as it can lead to even more serious sin. We must get rid of jealousy in order to become Christlike.

9. Humility – Not thinking too highly of oneself

While humility is a Christian virtue, it is also a human characteristic. Humility is not thinking too highly or too lowly of oneself. It can be traced back to Jesus who was humble and taught his disciples to be the same way.

The Bible defines humility as a sense of being small or less than others. In fact, Jesus warned that those who exalt themselves will be abased and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

These are strong words from Jesus, but they illustrate the importance of humility in all aspects of life.

In order to avoid pride from getting the best of us, we should humble ourselves before others and seek their good opinion above our own opinion on how we think we look or sound or what we have done with our lives.

Humbling oneself is not about pretending to be less than one is. It’s about recognizing the different areas of one’s life, and understanding them deeply.

Humility can be understood in two ways. The first is the idea that one has “nothing to boast about”. This can be taken to mean that they are not proud or vain. They are humble because they recognize what they’re good at, what they’re bad at, and everything in between.

The second form of humility is an awareness of how small we really are in relation to our environment and universe. A person who understands this will likely think more about their own actions and deeds than others’.

It’s important to remember that humility isn’t just a trait or personality type, it’s also a tool for every day life.

10. A Servant Above All Else – Putting others before yourself even when its inconvenient

I know that I am not perfect because I have sinned. I know that I can’t do everything myself and because of this, Jesus became a servant to me. He put me before himself because He loves me.

To show Christ-like attributes, we should put others before ourselves even when it is inconvenient. If we want to be a servant who is above all else, we need to love others more than ourselves and desire to serve others and not ourselves. We need to make sure that people are taking care of their needs before they take care of ours – just as Jesus did for us.

We should always put others before ourselves. We should always be willing to serve those around us.

In the Bible, Jesus talks about how we should love God and love people as ourselves. In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus says “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.

As followers of Christ we are called to be servants above all else- putting others before ourselves even when it’s inconvenient or difficult for us to do so because of our fallen nature

How to live like Jesus everyday

So after learning the Christlike attributes, we obviously need to know how to achieve or incorporate them into our daily life. How to overcome the sinful nature that is unfortunately our default character.

1. Believe that Christ died for you and gave you the gift of eternal life

2. Seek to find joy in service to others and in serving God

3. Live a virtuous life by being honest, courageous, charitable just like Jesus did

4. Follow the example of Jesus by being kind and gentle when possible

5. Pray earnestly to our Father in Heaven for guidance like Jesus did if you want to live like him daily

6. Follow the commandments and live like Jesus everyday

This is a great opportunity for you to take a step back and reflect on how we can live our faith in the world. It’s so important to be intentional about this and not just go through the motions.

The Bible is our guide for living out our faith in the world – it’s where we find out what Jesus did, said, and taught. The Holy Spirit also guides us through His Word! But there are things that are challenging in the Bible, which is why you may find this list of ways to live Christlike attributes helpful.

To conclude, We Christians must strive for Christlikeness..

I hope that this blog post has given you a few ideas and thoughts on how to determine what good habits you should incorporate into your life. If we strive for Christlikeness in all that we do, then we can be shining examples of His love to all those around us.