Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of the Maranatha Singers, singing their uplifting Christian classic… Jesus - You Are My Life, declaring what should be the goal of every Christian - to make Jesus’ life ours.
Highlight Passage Colossians 3: 12-13 [NKJV] …
12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
… Being like Jesus is tough … but essential … in living as He lived.
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Highlight Context - Colossians 3: 12-17 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Becoming Jesus in our life - i.e, pursuing Christlikeness
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Reference Passage #1 - Matthew 11: 29 [NKJV] …
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
… if we’re going to BE like Jesus, here’s how He described Himself?
Reference Passage #2 - Luke 9: 23 [NKJV] …
23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily,[a] and follow Me. … “
… Jesus described how to be like Him.
Reference Passage #3 - John 15: 1-8 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Abiding in Christ to be fruitful as “Christians”
Reference Passage #4 - Ephesians 5: 15-21 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Walking in Christlikeness …
Reference Passage #5 - Philippians 2: 3-4 [NKJV] …
3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
… Being like Chist cannot be done in selfish ambition. It is carrying the burdens of others.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Lawrence Darmani, related a personal experience to illustrate what should be the goal of EVERY CHRISTIAN, … to be like Christ and to walk in His likeness. And if you - today reading here - take in the attached photo, the song, sung by the Maranatha Singers, and the Scriptures provided above, I really don’t need to add any of my own inadequate blogging to help motivate any Christian to beome more like Christ today than yesterday … or even more tomorrow than today.
Certainly Jesus, Himself, admonishing any disciple of His (as in Luke 9: 23) to deny ourselves and follow Him, ought to be enough motivation, shouldn’t it? … And if we desire to become and live more like Jesus, looking to Matthew 11: 29, the only place in the New Testament where Jesus describes Himself - as “humble and meek” - should be a good place to help us to live like our Lord and Savor, shouldn’t it?
The convicting question- at least for me - from today’s ODB devotional is … Do I really want to be like Jesus and follow Him? … Because if I do, I must do what He said and live as He lived.
OUCH!
My Prayer Today: Oh Lord, … help me to deny my own desires and to seek to live as You iived, … today, tomorrow, and all days. Amen
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.
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