Let the Words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight O’ Lord. Psalm 19:14What we do and say says a lot about us, but what we hide in our heart says even more to God. We can act like all is well when we are feeling broken inside, but He knows our hearts and He will reveal the truth to those who seek Him. Someone was talking about this topic on Sunday, about how we need to be sure that we are acceptable in His sight, not just for the people at work or at church but the people at home as well. The Lord knows our hearts; he knows that we would be like Him. So why can’t we be more loving to one another?
We need to remind ourselves that we are not playing the role of Christian, but we are to live Christ-like, or as if we are truly "of Christ." We are, after all, His people and we should appear as He would in every situation: loving and kind, but not without righteous anger when appropriate. He did turn over the tables in the temple, after all, when the money changers had turned it into a marketplace instead of a Temple of God.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 1 John 3:1-3We need to try to focus on being like Him at all times, to focus on becoming more like Him daily. How do we do that? Well, if I wanted to become a professional baseball player, I would look at a professional baseball player’s history. I would check out how he got to where he was and then I would make a game plan to follow in his footsteps. I would train as much as he did, in the same areas he did, doing the same workouts that he did in hopes that someday I could be seen as good as him.
As Christians we want to study Christ’s history, the Word of God, so that we can learn what He is like. Then we want to train ourselves to do what He would do. Train the same way he did by studying, being open to discussion, kind, helpful and honoring his parents on earth as well as the heavenly Father. We would be standing up for the truth of the Word of God, not allowing others to misuse it, but teaching the truth in love. We would need to follow in His steps.
Jesus prayed—we should pray.
Jesus wept—we can see it's okay to weep.
Jesus had righteous anger when people mistreated His Father’s house—we too should protect our Father God’s house, and make sure people are treating it with respect. We have a lackadaisical attitude about church buildings these days because we know that God is in our hearts and lives, and not in the building. But that does not mean we do not honor God in keeping the church building up and treating it with respect. If it bothered Jesus that they made the Temple a "den of thieves" it should bother us when our churches are treated the same.
Another thought I had on this subject is that, in being like Christ, we need to be sure the Light shines through us everywhere. We need to reflect His personality. He knows our hearts. He knows our dreams and how we want, how we long, to be like Him. When we do good for one another and speak kindly to those in our home, as well as those outside the home, we are showing God’s love. We are letting His light shine through us. So many times we don’t let our own families see the good things God is doing in our lives. I think it is good to do this. We need to take the time to listen to our children, listen to our spouses and neighbors who come into our homes. Extended family that may be living with us should be treated as one unit, not extra baggage. How else will we lead our neighbors to Christ?
There was a time that I thought Christians were snobs who stole their position like baseball players! Not any more, because I know now that Christians are broken people trying to heal. But I do not ever want someone to think that of me. I do not want to seem as if I am too good to do anything, like feed the poor in my neighborhood. Remember that we may be the only Jesus some will ever see, including our families and neighbors. Let’s try hard to be like Him.
Heavenly father, thank you for loving us and changing us from day to day. Help us to be the people You see us as, not the broken and ignorant people we are. Show us the wisdom in your Word that we may walk in your steps. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Suggested Readings: 1 John 3:1-24; Hebrews 2:1-18; James 1:1-27; Luke 10:21-42 and John 9:1-41.