Our Job, God's Job
Why Following Jesus Is Different from Trying to Be Like Jesus
About This Resource
This month's Overflow Resource was inspired by a portion of Steve Cuss's Book, Managing Leadership Anxiety. His reflections encouraged us to return to Scripture and consider the freedom Jesus offers to those who simply follow Him.
If you've followed Jesus for any length of time, you've probably gone to bed wondering why becoming more like Him still feels so difficult.
You prayed about the same struggle again. You wished you had responded differently in a conversation. You found yourself worrying instead of trusting, or speaking before listening. As the day came to an end, one familiar thought quietly settled in: Tomorrow I'll try harder.
Most of us know that feeling.
The desire to become more like Jesus is a good desire. It comes from a heart that longs to honor Him. But somewhere along the way, many of us begin to believe that spiritual growth depends on our effort. We start measuring our relationship with Jesus by how well we've performed, and without realizing it, we exchange the joy of following Him for the pressure of trying to become Him.
One sentence from Steve Cuss gently challenges that way of thinking:
"Our work isn't to try to become like Jesus."
Those words don't lower the call to holiness. They simply remind us that Jesus never told His disciples to transform themselves.
He invited them to follow Him.
When Jesus described what it meant to be His disciple, He said,
"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." -Luke 9:23
That invitation is both beautiful and practical.
Following Jesus begins by staying close to Him. We spend time in His Word because we want to know His heart and learn His ways. We pray because we recognize how deeply we need Him. We pay attention to what He teaches and ask for the courage to obey, whether He's calling us to forgive someone who has hurt us, to love a difficult neighbor, to be generous when it costs us, or to trust Him when life doesn't make sense. Following Jesus isn't about mastering a checklist. It's about learning to recognize His voice and responding with a willing heart.
As we walk with Him, we begin to understand what Jesus meant when He spoke about denying ourselves.
It isn't about pretending we don't have emotions or desires, nor is it about trying to earn God's approval through sacrifice. It's choosing, again and again, to let Jesus have the final word. Sometimes that means laying down our need to control a situation we've been clinging to. Sometimes it means admitting we were wrong instead of protecting our pride. Sometimes it means setting aside our own plans because we sense Jesus leading us in a different direction. Every act of surrender is really an act of trust. We are saying, "Jesus, I believe Your way is better than mine."
None of this means we'll follow Him perfectly.
The disciples certainly didn't.
Peter often spoke before he thought. Thomas wrestled with doubt. James and John argued about greatness. Yet Jesus never stopped calling them to stay close. He taught them, corrected them, extended grace to them, and patiently shaped them over time. Their lives changed, not because they became experts at trying harder, but because they kept walking with Jesus.
The apostle Paul described that same work when he wrote of his desire "until Christ is formed in you" (Galatians 4:19).
Those few words lift an enormous burden from our shoulders.
God never asked us to produce Christlike character through determination. As we read His Word, pray, worship, obey, repent, and continue returning to Jesus day after day, God is quietly at work doing what only He can do. He softens hearts. He reshapes desires. He teaches us to love what He loves. Much of that work happens so gradually that we don't notice it until we look back and realize we no longer respond the way we once did.
That's the miracle of spiritual growth.
It isn't something we manufacture. It's something we receive as we faithfully follow Jesus.
Tomorrow morning, you'll have another opportunity to do just that. Open His Word and listen for His voice. Speak with Him in prayer before the demands of the day begin to crowd your heart. As opportunities arise, ask yourself, What would it look like to obey Jesus here? When you succeed, thank Him. When you fail, return to Him quickly, receive His grace, and keep walking.
Our job is to follow Jesus.
God's job is to change us as we do.
Take a few quiet moments with the Lord and reflect on these questions.
When you spend time with Jesus, are you primarily trying to become a better Christian, or are you simply trying to know Him more deeply?
Which spiritual practice has become more about routine than relationship—reading Scripture, prayer, worship—and how might Jesus be inviting you to approach it differently?
Is there one area of your life where you already know what Jesus is asking of you? What would it look like to take that next step of obedience this week?
Prayer
Father,
Thank You for inviting us to follow Jesus instead of placing on us the burden of changing ourselves. Draw us close to Your Son through Your Word, through prayer, and through the quiet work of Your Spirit. Give us hearts that are eager to obey, even when obedience is difficult, and remind us that Your grace is always greater than our failures.
As we continue to walk with Jesus, keep forming His character within us. Teach us to trust You with the work of transformation and to rest in the confidence that You are faithfully completing what You have begun.
In Jesus' name, Amen.