At Easter, Here Is What To Know About Jesus

Jesus’ behavior in the Gospels provides a living demonstration of the dynamics involved in balanced human behavior. Even approaching his crucifixion, the fully human and fully divine Jesus expresses himself on each compass point of the Self Compass, without getting stranded on any of them. 

Jesus' Last Supper

LOVE

As Jesus nears his passion week, his expression of the Love compass point intensifies. “Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love” (Jn 13:1). John, the beloved disciple, devotes five chapters of his Gospel to record all the words Jesus uttered at the Last Supper (Jn 13-17). This profoundly intimate conversation is shared with the disciples, but extends beyond them to all who call upon the name of Christ. 

From these words, all of us can learn that: 

1. Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet shows what love looks like in action.
2. Anyone who truly loves Jesus will carry out his teachings, opening their interior lives to receive the Father’s love for them.
3. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will make their home within those who love Jesus and follow his commandments, bringing an inner peace the world cannot take away.
4. His command is this: “Love each other as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12).
5. Jesus is the vine and his followers are the branches who bear the fruit of faithful love as they abide in Christ.
6. Jesus prays to the Father on behalf of humanity, “that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (Jn 17:26).

For good reason Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd, a name that reflects the Love compass point. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11). From the cross he forgives even those who crucify him, flinging open the door to salvation for anyone who walks through it. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).

Christ's Self Compass

ASSERTION

Understanding Christ requires not only perceiving the depth of his love, but also respecting the power of his assertion. Christ expresses the Assertion compass point when he disperses the Galilean crowd who are so impressed by his feeding of the five thousand they try to declare him king, rebukes the disciples who want to call down fire upon a Samaritan village for rejecting Jesus, and challenges the Sanhedrin during his trumped-up trial.

In other words, Jesus has no trouble saying what he thinks, acting in congruence with his identity, and standing up for the Son of God’s evaluation of people’s true motives. In this spirit, the book of Revelation describes Christ as the Lion of Judah, a name that provides an operational description of his Assertion compass point.

WEAKNESS

From the Weakness compass point, approaching his passion week, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, for the people neither honor his teaching nor recognize the presence of the Messiah in their midst.

If there is any doubt as to Jesus’ humanity, or his willingness to suffer, he falls to the ground in the Garden of Gethsemane, saying, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death” (Mk 14:34). Once he passes through this turmoil and self-doubt, Jesus surrenders to the Father’s will that requires his humiliation and crucifixion. 

On the cross in the hour of his fully human death, he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46), perhaps aligning himself with every human being who has ever felt broken and forsaken. Christ’s name from the Weakness compass point is the Lamb of God.

STRENGTH

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah employs these strength-oriented titles to describe Jesus Christ, the Messiah: Prince of Peace, Mighty Counselor, Savior, and Lord of Lords. 

Jesus himself declares in strength: 

• “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). 
• “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved” (John 10:9). 
• “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies” (John 11:25). 
• “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

When his last Passover arrives, though Jesus knows that heading to Jerusalem means he will die as a criminal, he sets his face like flint, determined to carry out the Father’s will. 

And what is the Father's will? That his Son, Jesus Christ, this God-person, who died for our sins, is resurrected  by the power of the Holy Spirit to sit at the right hand of God the Father. 

Resurrected Jesus

In Christ Jesus, then, lies the Trinity Easter gift to humanity; a gift waiting at the door of every individual’s heart: the gift of a whole personality, intimately connected to God. The gift of interpersonal selfhood through Jesus Christ the Lord. 

How To Grow A Christlike Personality

Jesus Christ doesn’t need to change, because he is sinless and lived his life on Earth without sin. So Jesus is the exception. The only exception! Everyone else, you and me included, does need to change if we want to grow more like Christ.

Why? Because over time, we form personality patterns as a way of coping with fear. Someone who blames and attacks, arguing to handle problems, fears trusting others, fearing they will take advantage of him. 

Regardless of why we formed these patterns, however, each of us is responsible for our own behavior. We each need to acknowledge that one or more patterns  hamper our relationships with others and our own growth as a human being. 

Self Compass Personality Patterns Chart

 

The Personality Patterns Chart above shows how manipulative strategies keep each personality pattern intact, unless you surrender to the path of growth offered by transforming your personality in Christ. 

• The Dependent Pleaser and Histrionic Storyteller are stuck with too much Love on the Self Compass. 
• The Paranoid Arguer and Antisocial Rule-breaker are stuck with too much Assertion. 
• The Avoidant Worrier and Schizoid Loner are stuck with too much Weakness.
• The Narcissistic Boaster and Compulsive Controller are stuck with too much Strength.

If you’re interested in finding out which patterns you overly rely on, try out the informal personality inventory in The Self Compass:Charting Your Personality in Christ.

Your score levels may indicate you have some personal and interpersonal difficulties that can be traced to this pattern. Taking the growth stretches sprinkled throughout the book or considering counseling will assist your growth.

As you monitor your progress over several months, eventually these action steps will lead to the healthy integration of this compass point into your life and personality. You will appreciate the freedom for creative living that arises from personality wholeness.

It’s common to have a mixture of personality patterns, even ones that seem to contradict each other, like the Pleaser pattern in certain situations and the Arguer pattern in others. As you read about each pattern, you proceed by targeting the highest score for concentrated prayer and growth stretches. When you begin to make discernible progress, shift your attention to the next pattern and work on it. 

Eventually, your Self Compass will break free from the patterns that imprison you. The outcome of this change, sometimes dramatic and other times subtle, is increasing serenity, improved relationships, and deepening trust in yourself and God.

Deepening Trust In God

You will also gain a kind of x-ray vision into the true motives of other people’s behavior. With this comes the ability to resist manipulation that would otherwise cause you harm, for as Jesus counsels, we all need to grow “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Mt 10:16).

The principles you learn will enrich and heal your relationships in single or married life. If you are raising children, the Self Compass is a trustworthy guide to helping them form healthy and balanced personalities. This is called the actualizing process—the shift from living through manipulative patterns toward Christ-like personality wholeness. 

Feel Lonely? How To Prime the Pump with God

You may feel alone and lonely sometimes; that’s normal. But remember this: the Holy Trinity is in your corner, dwelling in your home, living in your body, riding in the car with you—watching over you.

Start thinking interpersonally about the Trinity. Include the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in your emotional life and daily affairs. Call on the Lord in practical ways—I mean talk to God with gut-wrenching honesty about what’s going on in your life. Good times. Bad times. In-between times. Of your own free will, build a back-and-forth communication of speaking and listening to the Trinity. 

Talk with Jesus

Here are some ways to prime the pump. 

• Pray for all of your relationships. 
• Pray for your enemies. 
• Pray for guidance at work and in family life. 
• Pray for your development as an individual in Christ. 
• Pray for God’s augmenting wisdom to bless every little facet of your life. 
• Pray for God to remove rigid personality trends and replace them with life-enhancing balance. 
• Pray for your needs and praise God in advance for his blessings. 
• Draw near to God in love and adoration. 
• Glorify God for the coming redemption of the world and your part in it. 
• Love God up for the many ways he interacts with you.

Prime the Pump

There. You’ve faced your worries, called upon the Lord, and delighted God’s heart by leaning on him. Make this your life posture tonight, tomorrow, this week.

God’s plans for you are brimming with energy. 

• He will anoint and direct you in future situations. 
• He will oversee the events in your life and help straighten out ruffled relationships. 
• God knows you inside and out—genes and chromosomes, talents and deficiencies, needs and hopes—and loves you tenderly. 

The Lord never uses this knowledge against you, the way some people might, but inspires your intuition, infuses your dreams and daydreams, brings words of wisdom into consciousness, sculpts the flow of life situations, and converses with you like I am doing right now. 

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11). 

Plans for Good

Keep developing your individuality in Christ. In the long haul, Jesus will fulfill those heart’s desires that conform to his will for you. When life seems to go awry, ask Christ whether he has permitted an adverse situation for your transformative growth, or whether you have strayed from his plans and purposes.

To discern God’s will for you, pay attention to inner and outer developments. God may change your own perspective, or he may alter unfolding circumstances. You remain focused on praying for Christ’s will and the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. 

Do the next thing that seems right. God is faithful and creative in shaping events as they move forward in time. 

• He may use a word of knowledge or wisdom spoken to your heart by the Holy Spirit. 
• He may quicken a passage of Scripture that you recall or read with new insight. He may bring you new information by having someone call you or causing a letter to arrive in the mail. 
• Or he may simply give you an inner peace that says, “This is the way; walk in it” (Isa 30:21).

Your job is to pray and trust 

without telling God how to act. 

Pray and Trust in God

God relishes helping you through absolutely anything you face, blessing you in the process. Once you’ve made it through, don’t forget to praise the Lord for his resourcefulness and timing. He likes that.

For more, read:

Faith Beyond Church Walls: 

Finding Freedom in Christ