Back on the road to 40 grind with a little help from Shane Claiborne

I am really growing to appreciate the writings of Shane Claiborne. In his latest book , Jesus for President, Claiborne invites us to journey in our hearts and minds about how much we, as Christ-followers today, look like Jesus. He writes:

Looking Like Jesus

Remember when ole John the Baptizer sent his disciples to ask Jesus whether he was the one they were expecting and he didn’t answer with a simple yes? Jesus instead told them to go tell John what they saw him doing. He knew that John could read the trail of crumbs. John knew that when lepers were healed, the blind saw, the dead rose, and the good news was preached to the poor, the one they were waiting for was indeed here.
What does our trail of crumbs look like? If someone asks if we are Christ-followers, can we say, “Tell me what you see”? is there enough evidence to prove that we are taking after the slaughtered Lamb? What if they ask the poor around us? What if they ask our enemies? Would they say that we love them? Christians haven’t always looked like Jesus. Perhaps the greatest barrier to Christ has been Christians who pronounce Jesus so loudly with their lips and deny him so loudly with their lives.
In the South, we have a saying: “You are the spittin’ image” of someone. Folks still speculate over how exactly the phrase originated, but I’ve heard it put like this. It’s shorthand for “spirit and image.” Spittin’ image. For us, it meant more than just that you look like the person. It goes beyond just appearance to include character and temperament. It means that you remind people of that person. You have their charisma. You do the same things they did. In the truest sense, Christians are to be the spittin’ image of Jesus in the world. We are to be the things he was. We are to preach the things he preached and the way he lived. We are to follow in the footsteps of our rabbi so closely that we get his dust on us.
We are to remind the world of Jesus. The criterion for whether something is a manifestation of the kingdom of God is the person of Jesus. Does it look like him? –from Jesus for President pg. 230-31

I invite you this week to look at your life and your walk as a disciple. What kind of bread crumb trail are you leaving behind?