This month, my wife and I will celebrate 4 years of marriage (4 short years for me, and 4 looooong ones for her, probably).
We’ve been together for now 6 years, so it’s not surprise that some of her quirks have rubbed off on me.
I was never a hand washer. (I know. Gross.)
I washed my hands before meals and after bathroom use, but I have to be honest, I was never really thorough. But my wife is a bit OCD when it comes to germs.
She washes her hands constantly. If I touched something, say a gas pump, I can’t come near her until my hands are washed.

Before I met her, I never had the urge to wash my hands.
But now, when I touch something that may be dirty, I actually feel my hands being dirty. I have the urge and the need to go wash my hands. I never felt my hands feeling dirty before I met her. It’s a weird feeling.
It’s no surprise that when you spend that much time with someone, you start picking up on their quirks. You get where they’re coming from. You understand what makes them tick. You also get to know what they’re passionate about and so forth. And often times their habits, as weird as they may be, also rubs off on you and you find yourself doing them too.

So, if we love Jesus as much as we say we do, if we spend time with Jesus, shouldn’t parts of Jesus rub off on our everyday lives? Shouldn’t our hearts be in somewhat tune with Jesus’? Shouldn’t we start being passionate about the things Jesus was? Shouldn’t our everyday life reflect at least some aspects of who Jesus was when he walked the earth?
But, a lot of times, I don’t find that to be true.

I guess a lot of my struggles are: Do I love Jesus or do I love the Jesus I want to love? Am I in love with the actual Jesus, or the Jesus that I’ve basically created, a Jesus that’s easier for me to swallow and follow…

You know, someone once told me “when Jesus hates the same people you hate, you’ve made Jesus into your own image.”
Are we finding ourselves rubbing off of Jesus instead of having Jesus “rub” off on us? That didn’t quite make sense… Are we finding that Jesus is becoming more and more like us rather than us becoming more and more like Jesus?

I think it’s wise for me to take a step back each and everyday to remind myself who Jesus really is, and what being a true follower of Christ really means.