Time with God – Rik McCrossan

How should a Christ like man act?

I came to BBNI only very recently, joining as a trustee in 2025.  I’ve never been a member of a BB company so I’m very much an outsider.  What particularly attracted me to join the BB was the mission statement – raising generations of Christ-like men.  As a father of 2 young men, I’m very conscious of what it means to be raising men in Christ’s image.  But what is a Christ-like man?

Recently, God directed me to Galatians chapter 5 that talks about the fruit of the Spirit.  I’m sure you’re familiar with it – can you remember the 9 fruit?  As a worship leader in my church, it’s often worship songs that help me remember and there’s a kids song that helps me remember - "The fruit of the Spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control"

In the passage, before it lists the fruit, it has something else to say:

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Here it is listing the behaviours that we must avoid.  Christ-like men don’t do these things.  It’s probably pretty easy to say we stay clear of some of these – debauchery and witchcraft, for example, are probably easy to avoid.  But what about jealousy, discord, selfish ambition, etc?  Can we truly say we avoid these behaviours?

It immediately follows with the fruit of the Spirit:

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 

²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

It’s important to note that these are not the specific spiritual gifts bestowed on each of us, as is described elsewhere in Scripture.  These are fruit that are borne by people who live by the Spirit; people who are in Christ; men who are Christ-like.

So to answer my opening question, how should a Christ-like man act?  Well now we have an answer – a Christ-like man embodies the fruit of the Spirit.  A Christ-like man avoids the acts of the flesh.

Let’s ask ourselves daily – have we embodied acts of the flesh today or have we have borne fruit of the Spirit?

Written by Rik McCrossan (BBNI Trustee)