Elizabeth George - A Woman Who Reflects the Heart of Jesus: 30 Days to Christlike Character

This book belongs to

a woman who desires
to reflect the heart
of Jesus

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )

Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Cover by Dugan Design Group, Bloomington, Minnesota

Cover photo Shaun Egan / The Image Bank / Getty Images

A WOMAN WHO REFLECTS THE HEART OF JESUS
Copyright 2010 by Elizabeth George
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

George, Elizabeth, 1944

A woman who reflects the heart of Jesus / Elizabeth George.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-7369-1299-0 (pbk.)

1. Christian womenReligious life. 2. Devotional literature. 3. Jesus ChristExample. I. Title.

BV4527.G4645 2010

242.643dc22

2010025555

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 / BP-SK / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Before You Start:
What to Remember About Jesus

W hen you hear the name Jesus, whats your first thought? Mine is always the word perfect. Jesus is the man who lived a perfect life, had perfect conduct, was perfect in regard to sin, and yet was perfect humanity. But then my thoughts graduate to thinking of this perfect man as the perfect model, the perfect example, the possessor of perfect character, and the perfect person to follow in my quest for spiritual maturity. And that gives me hope.

Ive had a terrific time spending months and months poring over hundreds of scriptures and sifting through numerous books on the life of Christ. Can you imagine? It was an outstanding blessingand a convicting challenge. In the course of my studies I ran across this beautiful and reverent summary of Jesus lifea summary filled with encouragement for you and me as women who love Him, pray to live like Him, and desire to reflect Him.

Jesus Christ is everywhere in the New Testament assumed to be the moral and spiritual ideal of the Christian. In His purity of life, perfect obedience to the Father, composure in the hour of persecution, steadfastness in suffering, and resistance to sin, He is the model for the Christian when he enters into similar situations. In this life, we strive to be like the Savior; in our end-time glorification, our souls shall be perfectly conformed to His image.

And now for your trip into 30 incredible character qualities our Savior displayed! As with any journey, you have a destinationChristlikeness. And you get to set your own pace for your travels. You can enjoy one quality a day, or one a week, or find a rhythm that fits your lifestyle. Its just a book, and I want you to read it and enjoy it as a book. But Ive also written A Woman Who Reflects the Heart of Jesus Growth and Study Guide to help you dig a little deeper into the scriptures that define Jesus virtues and lead you to personal application. Maybe you and a friend or a small group can go through the study together. (Imagineunleashing countless women who reflect Jesus into todays world. It will never be the sameand neither will you!)

To fully complete your personal journey to Christlikeness will take a lifetime. You will reach your destination when you cross the threshold of heaven and meet Jesus face-to-face. As you begin, it is my prayer that these 30 scenic viewpoints along the path will help speed you on your way to becoming more like the Master, to becoming A Woman Who Reflects the Heart of Jesus.

In His everlasting love,

Y ou and I have so much to be thankful for because we have the Bible. In it Jesus teaches us what perfect humanity is, and then lives it for us. Jesus is not some celestial, untouchable superstar. Hes a person who has lived where we live, faced what we face, and felt what we feel. Thats why we can look to Him as a model of Christian behavior. The biblical standards that seem so hard for us to attain are clearly seen in Him. Because He shows us the way as a fellow human, we can follow in His footsteps and live out the same qualities He possessed.

As you embark on this journey through 30 character qualities drawn from Jesus life, you will only begin to scratch the surface of this most unusual and incredible of all personalities.

As the final verse of the Gospels explains,

There are many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written (John 21:25).

To say that Jesus was an incomparable person is an understatement! Thats why you wont read very far before you discover that many of the scriptural scenarios of Jesus contain multiple lessons and illustrate multiple character qualities. Sprinkled throughout this book you will see some events retold here and there from a different perspective to describe different qualities in Jesus. You will find yourself looking at the same diamond but from another angle.

To help you understand how a man could perfectly model Godlike behavior, and how God could walk among us as an example to follow, here are some important truths to remember about Jesus:

Jesus was the only man who possessed two distinct natures. His was a personality that, in addition to possessing all the characteristics of the divine nature, had all the qualities of the perfect, sinless human nature as well.

Jesus did not give up His divine nature. He simply added His human nature. The result of this union was that Jesus accepted certain limitations upon the use of His divine nature (Philippians 2:6-7).

Jesus did not function independently of either His divine or human natures.

Jesus humanity was not the humanity of fallen man, but the humanity possessed by Adam and Eve before their fall.

Jesus experienced all that we experience as humans, including hunger, thirst, weariness, love, sadness, and even anger, yet without sin.

It is my prayer that each day, as you view another facet of Jesus lovely life, you will grasp how very special Jesus is as your Lord and Savior, and as a model for how to live as a woman who reflects Him.