Using Magic to Understand Following Jesus

There's a saying in magic --
Practice what is hard until it becomes easy.
When it becomes easy, practice until it becomes second nature (natural).
When it becomes natural, practice until it becomes magical!

Following Jesus is not easy.
It isn't natural for us to love our enemies or care for those that are different than we are.
It isn't natural for us to put others ahead of ourselves or our family and friends (our community).
It isn't natural for us set aside our desire for more material things and for greater status and success in order to make others our priority.
And yet, that is what Jesus instructs us to do.

What if we took a magician's approach?
What if we "practiced" our Christianity by making the focused effort to work on loving others until it becomes easier? We can start with those closer to us and work our way up to the people we don't like and eventually, to the people that don't like us.
What if we quit seeing people from the perspective of us vs. them, and saw each person as a being created in the image of God?
What if we stop viewing people through the filter of nationalism and remember that the Kingdom of God has no borders?

When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he said that in Jesus there are no Jews and Gentiles (national borders), neither slave nor free (class divisions or status), nor is there male and female (Are you listening SBC?). He says that we are all one (equal) in Christ Jesus.

What if we begin to work on seeing people the way God sees them?
I know it is difficult and will take some practice. But it should get easier along the way. If we can see God's image in them, it should become natural to love them.
Once it becomes natural for us to see them as God sees them, and love them as God loves them, we will be well on our way to being more like Jesus.

Too often, we see God through human eyes.
It should be our goal that we would see humans through God's eyes.
This is going to take some practice.

John <><