I Want to Be Like This!

When I was a kid, I loved to watch Michael Jordan play basketball.  It started when he was with the North Carolina TarHeels, and then it continued when he was with the Chicago Bulls.  I remember going to my backyard and playing basketball on the goal my dad put up for me.  I would try to dribble like Mike, to shoot like Mike, and to dunk like Mike!  There was a commercial that came on TV, and the song that played had these words blasting from my speaker: "Like Mike!  If I could be like Mike!  I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be like Mike!"  

Today, I was reading in Ephesians 4, and one verse really jumped off the page at me.  Paul says in Ephesians 4:2, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."  Today, my prayer to God is that I want to be like this!  I prayed for God to help me be humble, help me be gentle, help me be patient, and help me be loving.  I don't know about you, but I struggle at times with humility and gentleness and patience and love.  I have the Burger King mindset way too often: I want it MY way RIGHT away.  I prayed today for God to forgive me.  I prayed today for God to help be embrace and embody these words that Paul used in Ephesians 4:2.  I need help from God in my home, as a husband and a father.  I need help from God in my church, as a pastor.  I need help with my heart and with my mind.  I need help with my eyes, my mouth, and my hands.  Sometimes I look at things I don't need to look at.  Sometimes I say things I shouldn't say.  Sometimes I do things I shouldn't do.  And all the while, I not only have the potential to hurt myself but also to hurt others.  Oh how I need God desperately!  I don't know about you, but I want to be reminded daily by the Spirit of God these awesome words from Paul in Ephesians 4:2.  I want God to help me put these qualities on daily so that I can be who God created me to be...in the home and in the church and in the community.  Thank God for Jesus, our Living Hope, who empowers and enables us to walk in righteousness and to love God and to love others the way He loves us.  I claim the power of Jesus in my life today to be like this!  I want to be like this: humble, gentle, patient, and loving.  Lord, help me today and each day moving forward!  I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be like Jesus!!!