Be a Child of God

By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
(1 John 3:10)

Meditation

If a bystander cannot tell the difference between me and the average unbeliever, then am I truly saved? Could my salvation be in question? Just the thought of that scares the pants off me. Just calling myself a Christian is not enough. Going to church every Sunday is not enough. Even giving car loads of money to the church is not enough. If I think I can get drunk and sleep with a person I’m not married to, but because I go to church it’s okay, I’m dead wrong. If I cheat others in business so I can make more money, then give some to the church everything will be okay, again, I’m dead wrong. Even if I have it all together in every other area of my life but I hate some person who hurt me, you guessed it, I’m dead wrong.
Today we have a weird kind of dynamic with social media. We may personally know a person we disagree with, but because we’re separated by the distance of our connection, we feel free to say just about anything. We can say things on these social media websites we would never say to the other person face to face. If we don’t know the person, all bets are off. We can go for the jugular vein. Sometimes, an innocent comment can be misconstrued, then all kinds of nasty words come out. I am only confessing my own unrighteous behavior here, so I’m speaking from experience. If I were smarter, I would cut the cords with social media and be a better example of Jesus Christ. I’ve never claimed to be smart though.
It’s really not that hard to show the world I’m a follower of Jesus. God’s Word is my instruction manual and the map for my righteous path through life. If I practice God’s righteousness, I will do more to attract others to the faith than most anything else I could do. The fact is, today, more than at any other time, I may be the only example of Jesus some people ever see. That makes me shudder in my boots. By my unrighteous actions, I may turn someone away and be responsible for them going to hell. I don’t ever want to be the reason for that. I always want to make sure that my righteous example convinces someone that being a follower of Jesus is a good thing, but not only that, a necessary thing we all need.




Daily Prayer

Oh, God, you are the supreme being of the universe. You created all things with a mere thought. You are the alpha and omega the beginning and the end. You are the Father of all mankind, from the seed of Adam, whom you created in your image. You are the Father of all believers, who seek to follow your will for their lives. You are the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and we thank you for his sacrifice. Because of the price paid by Jesus, we have the blessed hope of the resurrection. You adopt us as sons and daughters into your family when we repent and turn to you. We have become beneficiaries of the inheritance that will last for an eternity. It was easy to tell, before we gave our hearts to Jesus, that we were the children of the devil. Our lives were filled with sinful actions and desires. Thank you, Lord God, for thinking of us from the beginning of time. Your love is boundless and never ending and you have promised to never leave or forsake us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen!

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