Counsels on Self-Identity

Counsel #11 — Specific Changes

Picture: Counsel #11 — Specific Changes CI 13.1

It’s often easy to generalize but difficult to think in specifics, especially when it comes to character changes. We can say, “I want to be like Jesus,” but what does that really mean? We can’t emulate someone we don’t know. To be like Jesus, we must first know what He was like, what choices He made, how He spent His time, who He really was. CI 13.2

One way to know Jesus better is to read the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) with the specific purpose of finding out how He lived and served. Then we can ask Him to give us His kind of humility, compassion, self-sacrifice, and love!^[11] CI 13.3

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5 NKJV CI 13.4

“The Lord, by close and pointed truths for these last days, is cleaving out a people from the world and purifying them unto Himself. Pride and unhealthful fashions, the love of display, the love of approbation [praise]—all must be left with the world if we would be renewed in knowledge after the image of Him who created us.” Ellen White in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 52.1 CI 13.5

Reflect: Have you given much thought to what your life would look like if you lived like Jesus lived, making the choices He made? If you did live like Jesus, how would your life be different than it is now? CI 13.6