Did you know that baby bunnies can learn how to do tricks? When my children, Drew and Christy, were young, they once had a pet jackrabbit baby. They named him “Bugs”. Bugs loved to play games with them. One of the things Bugs and the children used to do was to roll across the floor together. Drew and Christy would go first, then Bugs would lay down and roll across the floor after them, just like he was their little brother!
Rolling across the floor is something bunnies don’t usually do. It’s not a bunny activity in the wild. But Bugs looked up to Drew and Christy and want to be like them.
It’s the same way in our friendship with Jesus. We want to be like him! Part of the reason Jesus came to earth was to show us how to live to please God the Father. He was kind and good and truthful in all that he did. When Jesus lives in our hearts, we love him and want to copy him, just like Bugs tried to copy Drew and Christy. It is not the natural way to live, it’s better! But we cannot be just like Jesus without special help. Jesus knew that. So after he died for our sins, rose again and went back to heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit to help us learn how to be like him.
The Apostle Paul wrote about what the Holy Spirit does in our hearts in Galatians 5:22,23. “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.” (NLT)
Doesn’t that sound a lot like Jesus? When we pray and think about Jesus every day, we become more and more like him.
Bugs never became a person. He stayed a bunny, even though he may have felt like a person inside. And we are not going to look different on the outside from other people, either. But we will be different on the inside if we let the Holy Spirit help us become more like Jesus, who loves us soooooo much!
Until our next Campfire, I’m sending you happy hugs!
Montana Gramma