“Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” Matthew 11:11.
This summer of 2026, Sue and I watched every episode of “The Chosen” and followed that up with a fascinating 2024 documentary titled “Jonathan and Jesus”. The cameras followed actor Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in the series, for many months as he travelled the world talking to people about the real Jesus.
There were moments when the ridiculous pressure of trying to “be Jesus” overwhelmed Jonathan into tears. People came up to him in airports and hugged him, telling him they loved him, and asking Jonathan to pray for them- even heal them sometimes.
The pressure of being Jesus in real life often overwhelmed Jonathan, who in real life was nothing but a relatively unknown actor in Hollywood. Indeed, when The Chosen started in 2020 during Covid, he was actually managing an apartment complex in Los Angeles to pay the bills. He had never starred in a movie of any kind. The documentary showed a scene just a few years ago when he had no food in the refrigerator. That was pressure, but quite different from the stress of trying to ‘be Jesus’. Jonathan the actor was crumbling under the weight of being Jesus.
This got me thinking. At age 75, I have made a shocking discovery which is transforming me with new energy and vitality. I hereby invite you to think about it. I hope you have ‘ears to hear’.
Perhaps you’ve been trying to be “like Jesus”? After all, isn’t that the goal? Have we not all been told to be '“like Jesus’?
Personally, I am exhausted from the attempt. So are you, I suspect, although your fear of being tagged as some form of heretic or worse has kept your mouth shut about the struggle.
We are bombarded by sermons and hymns which tell us to “be like Jesus”.
“Oh, to be Like Thee” (1897 by Thomas Chisholm) pops up into my memory from early days in the Methodist Hymnal or holiness camp meetings. “Come on, man, you can do it”, they all say. Of course, we are told that it is only possible with the power of the Holy Spirit. That always sounds good and right. But still, we wake up every day with a track record of failure when it comes to healing the sick, raising the dead, walking on water, feeding the multitudes, casting out demons, and more. I have trouble with the basics, like being a good husband and a faithful friend, let alone raising the dead or walking on water.
Most men (I dare not speak for the women) who grow up in church hear two basic messages.
First, well intentioned Sunday school teachers and parents tell us to ‘be a good little boy’. They all reinforce good behavior. Sit quietly. Stop something. Behave. Do your duty.
Second, and much deeper, we hear that we should try to ‘be like Jesus’. This never goes away. It starts in Vacation Bible School and continues through teenage years. We hear the stories of kindness, combined with miracles, and begin to grasp that this Jesus is like no other. And yet, we are told, “Be Like Jesus”.
I googled the phrase “like Jesus” to see what books have been written on the subject (not to mention the millions of sermons preached by all the famous preachers).
Here are the titles of books that I found in a two-minute Amazon search.
Lead like Jesus. Becoming like Jesus. Walk like Jesus. Love like Jesus. Think like Jesus. Fight like Jesus. Just like Jesus. Be like Jesus. Live like Jesus. Act like Jesus. Dream like Jesus. Teach like Jesus. Radical like Jesus. Talk like Jesus. Be more like Jesus. Heal like Jesus. Ask like Jesus. Growing to be like Jesus. Pray like Jesus. Living like Jesus. Look like Jesus. One like Jesus. More like Jesus. I Can Be like Jesus. Learning to Love and Live like Jesus.
That’s twenty-five (25) books, and I suspect there are thousands more that came long before Amazon!
I went to my Bible App to see if I could find the phrase in holy Scripture. It isn’t there. The closest thing you can find is John 13:15 when Jesus says, “I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you”, talking about washing the feet of the disciples. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with doing some of the things which Jesus did, and the WWJD bracelet (“What Would Jesus Do?”) is still a fine thought. After all, we are the ‘salt of the earth’ and the ‘light of the world’. But notice it is a small “l”, not the Light with a capital “L”. So, be careful.
When I looked for “like Jesus” in my Bible App, the Bible itself had no such words, but that didn’t stop preachers and churches from offering study plans to do just that (usually for a nice subscription fee).
I will not name the churches and pastors who offer these programs, because I do not want to be a critic of any particular person- and indeed, it is the kind of thing I would have written myself not long ago. But stop and think about it, we live in a world of epidemic failed attempts to ‘be Jesus’.
FYI— the following plans are available from your Bible App, endorsed by some very famous preachers and mega-churches:
Live like Jesus (several different ones),
Love like Jesus,
Living like Jesus,
Loving like Jesus,
Like Jesus,
Looking like Jesus,
Becoming like Jesus,
Become Radical like Jesus,
Being like Jesus,
Pray like Jesus,
How to love like Jesus,
Helping others like Jesus,
Breaking Barriers like Jesus,
Radical like Jesus,
Breaking Barriers like Jesus,
Be Productive like Jesus,
Forgive like Jesus,
Learning to Lead like Jesus,
Living Faithfully like Jesus,
Like Jesus: Living with your Vision,
The Family Business: Living like Jesus, Loving like Jesus, Leading like Jesus,
Becoming like Jesus (A Worthy Goal),
God’s Wonderful Gift: Live like Jesus,
Think like Jesus: Timeless Wisdom from Proverbs,
Serve like Jesus: 3 Days of Joyful Service,
Pray like Jesus in Tough Times,
Mentor like Jesus…………………… I have to stop here because the list goes on and on and on…..
For my friends who play golf, I am sure that “Golf like Jesus” would surely be a best seller. The subtitle would be “How to Birdie Every Hole, Every Day!” What if you went to your local professional and his advice was simply- “Play like Tiger: You can do it!” Absurd, right?
So then, how much more is it absurd to try to be “like Jesus”.
So, OK, what do we do? I have come up with a phrase that I like. Indeed, I am finding Power in this phrase.
I have decided to “let Jesus be Jesus for me”. I will stick to being Tim Philpot. And try not to get in His way. It is all I can do.
Having said all this, I have latched onto John the Baptist as a person that maybe I can emulate at times. He was a Witness (John 1:6). He was a Voice (John 1:23) crying in the Wilderness. He was a Friend of the Bridegroom. He pointed people to Jesus (“Look, the Lamb of God, John 1:35.”). He knew who he was, just a man who had doubts at the end. He was a man who did no miracles. But Jesus said he was the greatest. So, in my latter years, I’ve decided to start with being like John the Baptist.
Bold. Loud. Crazy. Not worried about what some crowd of religious people thinks about me.
Click here for a message from Scotland on August 2, 2026. I was asked to share some thoughts for the baptism of two young men, Luke (19) and Timmy (14), who have decided to follow their pastor father in following Jesus. I tried my best to tell them not to fall for the trap of trying to be “like Jesus”, hoping they would not spend the next fifty plus years in frustration like me. Instead, I told them that on the day of their baptism, maybe let John the Baptist be a mentor and a guide for them. I hope it makes sense for you too.
Jesus says that “whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than [John the Baptist].” (Matthew 11:11). Maybe we should work on being like “the least in the kingdom of heaven’ instead of trying to be “like Jesus”. Just a crazy thought that may help you get started down a new way of thinking.