6 Traits of Jesus that We Should Be Imitating

I wonder, how much of our time have we spent trying to imitate the habits or personality traits of others? Maybe we really like the way they present themselves, or we wish we could be achieving things as quickly as they can. While it certainly is great to have role models and influences, the one person we should be mainly focused on imitating, is the one who sacrificed Himself to save us. 

“Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.” Ephesians 5:2 NLT. 

Today, let’s look at just six of the traits Jesus embodies and displays constantly. To help us, we’re going to take a look at the personality of John Coffey, the gentle giant who was wrongly sent to death row in the hard hitting 1999 movie, ‘The Green Mile’.

1) Gentleness

To be gentle does not mean being weak. It means having a peaceful and tender heart; through this your actions and words won’t be aggressive, but they’ll be calming and welcoming. Being gentle also means to serve others well, to give them grace, and help them in their distressing times. Jesus was one who displayed gentleness well, as He took care of those around Him. No matter the situation, His gentleness helped others feel at ease.

“He will feed His flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in His arms, holding them close to His heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.” Isaiah 40:11 NLT.

John Coffey is certainly a gentle giant. As soon as we meet him, we can tell the guards are intimidated by his size, wondering if at any moment he would overpower them. But within a minute or two, it’s clear to see that John is not at all a violent man. His gentleness is displayed throughout this movie, through his words and actions.

2) Working in spiritual giftings

Unlocking your spiritual giftings is a truly amazing trait to succeed in! These gifts are special, coming only from the Holy Spirit, the advocate whom God sent to help us when Jesus ascended into heaven. Jesus displayed amazing spiritual gifts throughout His ministry, including countless miraculous healings! 

“As the sun went down that evening, people throughout the village brought sick family members to Jesus. No matter what their diseases were, the touch of his hand healed every one.” Luke 4:40 NLT.

This is part of John’s story, and the main reason we realise he isn’t a regular human being. Illustrating the healing that Jesus did, John also displays an amazing gift of healing, from restoring a stepped on mouse to curing the warden’s wife from her brain tumour. He brings life to the suffering. 

There is no reason we can’t do the amazing things Jesus did. While we all won’t have the gift of healing, there are other gifts we could possess, including prophesying, the gift of knowledge, or speaking in tongues. To find out, we only need to invite Jesus into our hearts, spend time with, and seek wisdom from the Holy Spirit, so that we can be used as a vessel to bring God glory.

3) Compassion

“When the Lord saw her, His heart overflowed with compassion. ‘Don’t cry.’ He said.” Luke 7:13 NLT.

Jesus was amazingly compassionate! He was hurt to see others experience pain and suffering and He did what He could to ease them from it. The ultimate act of compassion, of course, is when He died on the cross for our sins. When he was nailed to the cross, He saw us all and He knew that we needed Him to save us. He has compassion for us.

John also had immense compassion for many people. The reason he got put on death row was because he tried to save two girls who had been attacked by someone else, and he was wrongly accused of this crime. The amount of compassion and heartache he felt for them overwhelmed him. The same happens when he meets the warden’s wife who is dying in bed. He feels heartache for what she has had to endure, and he wants to relieve her from it.

4) Empathy

“When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus wept.” John 11:33-35 NLT. 

Jesus may be the Son of God, but He was still a human. He experienced every feeling that we feel, and He understands them so well. So much so that during the time that He learned of Lazarus’ death, He grieved with everyone else, even though Jesus knew Lazarus would be raised from the dead. 

Something we see in John’s story, and Jesus knew this well, is that having empathy for people can be exhausting. John felt that since he was given this special gift, he was meant to help as many people as he could. But with the amount of ugly violence in the world, by the end of the movie, he was completely drained.

Empathy is an important trait to have. But take a cue from Jesus. Be sure you are taking time for yourself, to rest and rejuvenate, so that you are able to serve others with energy.

5) Strength

Going off our discussion on empathy, we have been reminded that Jesus experienced every feeling that we do. There were many times that Jesus needed to rely on God for strength. One time in particular was when Jesus was in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane just hours before he was to die on the cross. 

“He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Matthew 26:39 NLT. 

He had to call on God for strength to get through that time because He knew He couldn’t get through it on His own. We are to do the same. We can hype up our inner strength all we want, but our own strength will never be enough to fulfil the purpose God Himself has laid out for us.

John definitely had physical strength, there was no doubt about his size! But he could only do so much in his own strength. John, like us all, was human and he was limited in strength. We must remember that the supernatural strength we need can only come from God. 

6) Humility

You know, Jesus would have had the best excuse to walk around and boast about all the miracles He was doing. He was enabling the blind to see, multiplying food, and raising people from the dead. But, He knew that God was truly the one enabling Him to do this, Jesus was the vessel. And because He knew God was the enabler, Jesus was humbled by obeying what was asked of Him. 

“He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on the cross.” Philippians 2:8 NLT. 

Like Jesus, an innocent man sent to die, we also see John having to do the same thing (only John couldn’t be resurrected). In a truly tragic end, John accepted what had to be done. He was humble from the beginning through to his death, and because of this, he earned full respect from the death row guards. This is a great reminder that although everything can be against you, how we act can make all the difference on the people around us. 

These are just a few of the things we should be imitating from Jesus. While it can be stressful thinking of how we can implement them all, start small and find one thing you can change in your life that could help you adapt these traits. 

Can you think of any other traits we should be imitating from Jesus? Let us know in the comments below!