I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Be Imitators
Children learn to function in real life by imitating those around them.
They learn to speak by listening to their family’s words and copying what they hear. They learn to interact with others by observing how their loved ones interact with others. They learn what’s culturally and socially appropriate by watching and imitating.
They learn how to eat, play, read, pray, cook, fish, braid, draw, garden, build, worship, invest, and navigate relationships by noticing and mimicking those around them.
And it doesn’t stop with children. People will often reflect those closest to them, as well as their environment.
Perhaps that’s why, while writing from the confines of a Roman prison, the apostle Paul gave the believers in Ephesus a heartfelt charge:
“Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.”
Ephesians 5:1 NLT
Paul knew that loving and reflecting God was foundational. What we observe will get repeated and, eventually, passed along. The fancy word for this concept is discipleship—where we learn from those we trust and teach others what we’ve learned.
Regardless of where we’re at in life, we’re all being discipled by something. That’s why we should carefully consider who we are listening to and following.
It is vital to build our lives on Truth.
It’s already in our God-given makeup to reflect God. But as humans, we still have to intentionally remember who and whose we are, which is the first step in becoming more like Christ.
Luke 10
“After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into ...
God Is With You
The prophet Isaiah wrote the words of Isaiah 7:14 nearly 600 years before Jesus was born. At the time of this writing, the Israelites were doing all the right religious things, but weren’t practicing justice as God commands. Like many prophets during Isaiah’s time, this was a warning against that injustice. But among that warning was a glimmer of hope that God would set things right.
Here, the prophet Isaiah is giving the people of Israel a reason to hope because of God’s good promise—the promise that He will provide a sign and He will show up for us. Because that’s what Immanuel means: God with us.
But what does “God with us” mean for us today?
It means we can share in that hope by fixing our eyes on Jesus and trusting in Him. We can trust that from Christ’s birth to His current reign in Heaven—Jesus is God with us.
He’s with us in our pain when we lose a loved one.
He’s with us in our anger when we see injustice and don’t know where to turn.
He’s with us ...
