December 2, 2022 … More Like Him …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2021 - Day 336 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...  Please take the time to take in song and lyrics of  Zach Williams singing … Less Like Me … poignantly and powerfully singing about how real-deal Christians strive everyday to live more like Jesus. 

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Highlight Passage: … !Timothy 4:12b  [NLT] …  

12b … Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity..  

…Paul exhorts Timothy (and really all Christians) to life lives that reflect Christlike living.                                                                   

Highlight Passage (Context): … 1Timothy 4:12-16 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul charges his protege, Timothy, to live live his life as an example of Christlikeness.             

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Reference Passage: … Psalm 139:23-24 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

…  King David, recognizing his sinful tendencies/weaknesses, and prays ardently for God to lead him onto God’s path of everlasting life.  

Reference Passage: … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

…  God, thru Solomon, warns believers to avoid following our own ways in life but to trust God COMPLETELY to lead us in the way we live for Him.      

Reference Passage: … Luke 9:23 [NLT] …   

23 Then He said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

…  Jesus demands of true Christians that they (we) set aside their (our) own way and follow only His ways of living.         

Reference Passage: … Romans 12:2 [NLT] … 

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

…  Paul exhorts fellow Christians (and that’s us too) to avoid living lives as the world lives; but rather to think and live like Christ.  

Reference Passage: … Ephesians 4:1 [NLT] …

1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.

…  The Apostle Paul, who had surrendered himself as a slave to follow Christ as his Master, begs fellow Christians to to do the same and to honor our Lord with the way we live.

                                                                          

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Sheridan Voysey … AT THIS LINK …   tells of the author and his wife moving to a new country as missionaries and being counseled  by a trusted Christian friend to set aside the past and to do their best to be sterling examples of a Christian marriage for others they encounter.       

And that was basically the counsel that the Apostle Paul gave to Timothy as a young Christian (see highlight passage), whom Paul had led to Christ and was mentoring him to become a Minister of the Gospel.  And if my readers have taken in the linked song and meditated on the Scriptures above, it’s the message that God’s Word calls us toward … to surrender our living to follow Christ and to live less like ourselves and more like our Lord, Jesus.   

So, as the photo asks, What are your values?  And, in personal conviction, … I’m asking myself …  RIGHT NOW …  if I’m willing to live for Christ; … or am I’m living for mySELF?   What about you?

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for calling me out to live more for You, Lord, and less for me.       

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to surrender ourselves to live more for You, Lord, and less for ourselves.    …  Amen

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Blogger Note:  Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries.  If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.