Living in the Spirit
Light a Candle for Children
October 17, 2014
Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place where your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. —1 Thessalonians 1:6-8
Children are great imitators that is how they learned. I watched on the news recently a report about a little boy who was so fascinated by a baseball game that he was acting out every play in the aisle next to the bleachers. He was pretty good. There were as many people watching him in that area as were watching the game. Are we each living our lives in such a way that children learn positive behaviors from us? Would they recognize Christ in us?
Paul calls us to be imitators of Christ but we are also to live our lives in such a way that by imitating us others may be introduced to Christ. I must confess that I find myself using the terms “follower of Christ” or “Disciple of Christ” when talking about my role and the role of others who are committed to living in the Kingdom of God now. I really did not realize I was doing that until I proofread something I had written and saw that I had never once used the word “Christian”. It made me very sad. My apparent perception is that the descriptor “Christian” has become stained by a broad brush of actions that do not resemble the ways of Jesus. While we ask the question, “What would Jesus do?” I fear at times we do not invest ourselves in truly exploring the answer.
We are called first to love God and to love like Jesus loved. We might be wise to remember that the only times Jesus got angry was when the religious leaders of the day were so caught up in power and greed that they forgot to love.
Oklahoma Fact: In 2012, 546 juveniles were arrested for violent crimes.*
Prayer: Holy Spirit rest on us and empower us to always choose loving others over power and greed. Amen.
*http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/2521-arrests-of-juveniles-for-violent-crimes?loc=38&loct=2#detailed/2/any/false/868,867,133,38,35/any/8903,8904
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.