“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” – Ephesians 5:1-2
I watch as he fights dragons, saves the damsel in distress and rides away on his white horse to save the day. He is your typical energetic little boy, who slides head first into home to win the game, crashes his car in turn three and still wins the Indy 500 and tries to swing high enough to go over the top bar of the swingset. His imagination is vivid with characters, places and events that the rest of us sitting in the room fail to comprehend. He is 5 years old and beautifully created in the image of God. Yet, he imitates the characters in the fairy tales from bed-time stories and videos that he may have watched the day before.
I point this out to draw a similarity back to our lives. We know God, recognize that we are made in His image and we stand in church with our arms raised and singing praises to our Lord and Savior. Yet, so many times we walk out of the church building and spend the next 6 days imitating the world around us. Someone once told me, “Fake it till you make it”, and as trivial as that sounds it is actually quite truthful in describing how many of us live our Christian lives. We step forward to an alter on a glorious Sunday morning and amidst tears and prayers accept Jesus Christ into our life. The single most important decision in a person’s life cause angels to sing in heaven. Salvation is the point at which you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit (God Himself) enters into your heart and dwells within you from that moment forward.
As a person leaves the sanctuary after accepting Jesus Christ do they immediately know what it takes to be a Christian? The answer is no. The Holy Spirit becomes their guide, the Word of God becomes their instruction manual and for a period of time, they need to “put on” the image of Christ while they learn what it truly means. Christians all over the world are learning at different stages. Some are aged and yet still babes in their Christian walk. Others are young and vibrant and full of energy to change the world for Christ. Then there are the millions if not billions of us in the middle trying to figure it out. Imitating Christ is our pathway to becoming the person God made us to be.
The Holy Spirit convicts of our wrong doing and advises us of His righteousness. In building a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ through reading of His word daily, it becomes easier to imitate the Savior of the world. Just as my 5 year old boy imitates his heroes from the books he reads I need to imitate my hero – Jesus Christ.
I point this out to draw a similarity back to our lives. We know God, recognize that we are made in His image and we stand in church with our arms raised and singing praises to our Lord and Savior. Yet, so many times we walk out of the church building and spend the next 6 days imitating the world around us. Someone once told me, “Fake it till you make it”, and as trivial as that sounds it is actually quite truthful in describing how many of us live our Christian lives. We step forward to an alter on a glorious Sunday morning and amidst tears and prayers accept Jesus Christ into our life. The single most important decision in a person’s life cause angels to sing in heaven. Salvation is the point at which you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit (God Himself) enters into your heart and dwells within you from that moment forward.
As a person leaves the sanctuary after accepting Jesus Christ do they immediately know what it takes to be a Christian? The answer is no. The Holy Spirit becomes their guide, the Word of God becomes their instruction manual and for a period of time, they need to “put on” the image of Christ while they learn what it truly means. Christians all over the world are learning at different stages. Some are aged and yet still babes in their Christian walk. Others are young and vibrant and full of energy to change the world for Christ. Then there are the millions if not billions of us in the middle trying to figure it out. Imitating Christ is our pathway to becoming the person God made us to be.
The Holy Spirit convicts of our wrong doing and advises us of His righteousness. In building a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ through reading of His word daily, it becomes easier to imitate the Savior of the world. Just as my 5 year old boy imitates his heroes from the books he reads I need to imitate my hero – Jesus Christ.
Prayer:
Loving Father,We are Your children and long to be in Your arms. We thank You for the Holy Spirit to reign in us as we walk this path. Thank You for the Word that fills our minds, hearts and thoughts with the image of Your son Jesus Christ. Help us to be imitators of His love, peace, sacrifice and servants heart to all that we meet, so that Your grace might be felt amongst all people. In Your name we pray – Amen
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©Sondove Enterprises, 2011
Loving Father,We are Your children and long to be in Your arms. We thank You for the Holy Spirit to reign in us as we walk this path. Thank You for the Word that fills our minds, hearts and thoughts with the image of Your son Jesus Christ. Help us to be imitators of His love, peace, sacrifice and servants heart to all that we meet, so that Your grace might be felt amongst all people. In Your name we pray – Amen
http://www.10minutereader.com
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