Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

If you are reading this page right now then you are guilty of sin and falling short of God’s glory.  Everyone of us has to come to the realization that if we sin then we are sinners. Someone might say “I am not a sinner”.  What am I guilty of?  Have you ever lied?  Have you ever cheated?  The Bible tells us that if you are guilty of one than you are guilty of them all. If you have lied, then you are a liar. If you cheated, then you are a cheater.  Sometimes it is hard to face the reality of this sober line of thinking.

If we sin then we are guilty of the consequence that goes with it.  If I am a sinner then I am in need of a savior. Someone who can pay a debt that I myself cannot pay.  The sweet and wonderful news that we have is that someone has paid that debt for us. That is why the Gospel of Jesus Christ is declared as good news. Good news to anyone who recognizes it and will call upon God and except it. Jesus Christ shed His own blood on a cross for the sin of humanity. He did it for you. He did it for me. The text above tells us the horrible news that we all have sinned, but it also announces the great news that  we can all be justified(made right) by His grace through the redemption of Jesus. That is truly good news.

Take time today to remember how far you have come. You may not be where you want to be, but I am sure you are thankful that you are not where you once were. How saved are you today? When was the last time you sat and pondered about how good God’s grace has been to you?  Outside of the Blood of Jesus, you would still be separated from God with no hope of reconciliation.

Confession: Dear Lord, right now I want to thank you for all that you have done in my life. Most importantly I want to thank you for the Blood of Christ that has taken away my sin. I am so thankful and don’t want to take your saving grace for granted. Thank you Lord!!

Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Take some time right now and think about some Godly characteristics. What defines Him? How does He act and speak?  What does the Bible say about Him? What has your experience with God been?  A characteristic is defined as: pertaining to, constituting, or indicating the character or peculiar quality of a person or thing; typical; distinction: a distinguishing feature or quality.

What is God like? What sets Him apart and distinguishes Him?

As you take this time I believe you will have an opportunity to see the so many wonderful qualities that define our heavenly Father God.  He is gracious, merciful, compassionate, loving, strong, holy, pure, mighty and so on and so on and so on. We don’t have enough room to talk about all of His positive characteristics.  I want you to recognize that He truly is worthy of all of our attention, praise and life.

Now, in saying all of this, lets go back to the scripture text that is at the top here. Be imitators of God as His child. WOW! After thinking about how great God is, it is kind of intimidating to think that He encourages and commands us to be like Him. That can be kind of scary to a religious mind. Be like God? How is that possible?  It is impossible to a naturally minded person. We can only be like God by allowing His Spirit to come alive in our hearts and His word come alive in our minds and changing us into His very image and likeness.  He would not tell you to do something that He does not empower you to.

Throughout your day today, examine your heart, mind and actions and ask the Lord to help you become more like Him and walk in love as He has done towards us. Walking in love as Christ ,does not just happen. We have to be intentional and determined to do it through His spirit.  Many times it even takes determined faith to be an imitator of God.

Confession: Lord, I know you have commanded me to be like you. Help me today to recognize opportunities where I can change my heart to be like you. I want to serve you because you are so good and I want others to see you in me because I imitate you.

Psalm 1:1-3  Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.  3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

I remember growing up in the church being told to be careful about meditation, it is associated with the cultish new age movement. This came as a surprise to me because God commands us in His Word to meditate on His precepts and Word. He told us that long before any new age movement. Now I know that there are certain cults and religious groups that use meditation as a means of contacting evil spirits or to reach a different state of consciousness.  But like everything else, there is nothing new under the sun.  Someone has taken what God has for His people to help them and perverted it into something else.

Meditation in definition is extended thought, reflection, contemplation. It is simply taking time and focusing on one idea and dissecting it to get all you can out of it. One definition means to mutter to oneself over and over the same phrase to help understanding. Meditation of itself is healthy if we focus and meditate on the right things.  God’s word declares to us to meditate on His word day and night. Think about, talk about, focus on and declare His word continually. If we will do this than He promises that we would be like a tree planted by the streams of water that is healthy and produces fruit and whatever we do would prosper.

I don’t know about you but I would rather meditate on God’s word about my life than what someone else says about me.  I really want to be healthy and produce fruit for God.

Confession: Lord, I take your counsel and Word and delight in it. I am determined to meditate on Your Word and nothing else. I take a moment right now and calm my mind to allow it to focus on what your word says about me.