I'm Trying to _____ Like Jesus

Many of us are familiar with the Primary song I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus. I sang a line or two of this song recently, and it struck me that we could replace the word "be" in that song's title with just about any verb to create a worthwhile, if somewhat confusing, goal. For example, I could say that "I'm trying to blog like Jesus." This would give me cause to reflect and ask myself, if Jesus were to write a daily blog post, what would He say in it, and how would He say it. This could help me improve the tone, if not the content, of my blog posts.

The same sort of reflection could be triggered by replacing "be" with other verbs. "I'm trying to drive like Jesus" could mean driving respectfully and in adherence to local laws. "I'm trying to sing like Jesus" could mean singing from the bottom of our hearts. "I'm trying to play UNO like Jesus" could mean forgiving your fellow players when they play attack cards on you and being as gentle as possible when you have to play attack cards on them.

Of course, this trick doesn't work for every verb or verb phrase. "I'm trying to steal like Jesus" doesn't work because Jesus wouldn't steal. On the other hand, it can still be beneficial to consider how Jesus might have done something that He probably wouldn't have. For example, I don't imagine Jesus as being a smoker, but if He did smoke, He would still be considerate of others, so "I'm trying to smoke like Jesus" could mean smoking downwind or at a distance from those who don't smoke.

Another weakness of this replacement trick is that it can be difficult to imagine how Jesus might have done certain things. I'm not sure what it might mean to shop like Jesus, except to live within one's means and plan for the future. "I'm trying to use Facebook like Jesus" could mean anything from using it to uplift others to not using it at all. One rule of thumb is that if you can't picture Jesus doing something, we probably shouldn't do it, but there are many things that He never had the opportunity to do, or was never depicted doing, so it can be hard to imagine how He might have done such a thing, or whether He would have done it or not. Hopefully, as we strengthen our relationship with Jesus and learn more about Him, we will gain a better idea of what He might have done and how He might have done it, giving us a better idea of if or how we should do it.

Ideally, everything we do, we should do like Jesus, whether those are things we do for work or for fun or for any other reason. If we do something, we should try to do it the way Christ would have done it, if we can figure out what that way is. It can be difficult to imagine how Jesus might have done certain things, but for everything else, doing things the way Christ would have done them will help us become more like Him. Essentially, making goals to do things the way Jesus would have done them helps us work toward a much greater, much simpler, and much more catch-all sort of goal: trying to be like Jesus.