There are many ways in which I want my life to reflect the Character of God. The first of this is to be holy. God demands of his people, "You shall be holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). God's holiness is his absolute separateness from all other beings or things in existence. Hannah sings in 1 Samuel 2:2, “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God." It is not this holiness that I am after but after the ethical holiness of God. God calls us to resemble his ethical holiness to be pure as he is pure. My holiness consist in living a life of righteousness as God as revealed. I am to do what is good as Micah 6:8 puts it, "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" This is to be my daily relationship with the world and with my neighbour. O, I am to kiss kindness and embrace humility and distribute justice.
Another way I want my life to reflect the character of God is to be full of love. 1 John 4:8 tells us that "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." This is who God is and if I claim to know God then I must love. This love consists in a given of my self to the needs of the people. As 1 John 3:17 states "If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?" This love is not merely in thought but in deed. The ultimate love was shown by God in given us his Son. John 3:16 states, "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son". See, here we see again that love is a given. It is not a passive thought but a thinking with action. Love walks and runs and fights and ultimately gives. It gives away that which is most precious to us namely our lives. Christ said, "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
I want my life to be marked by giving. O may I not spare anything if it contributes to displaying love to my friends. It is said of God in Romans 8:32 that "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" God is a giver. He will ultimately give us all things. The sanctified in heart will know that this all things are things that pertains to our blessedness as it is written in Ephesians 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms."
O my friends, here are all my things. Here is my life in the service of you all so that Christ my saviour can be magnified. The love I have is not my own but it is the love of Christ that is in me. His love has become my love! May I reflect his generosity and humility. Christ emptied himself and took the form of a servant. The messiah is the one who serves and we are called to serve him and to serve each other. Love is a constant giving and in this giving we are receiving. It is a double edged sword. We are receiving from God and if the church is as it should be in loving one another, then all the members will all be receiving and given love. O, what a holy atmosphere! The angels will marvel and that observation of old that was said of the early church by the pagan world will be said of us, 'Look how they love one another!'
O, teach me how to love dear Lord. Teach me your holiness! Pray this prayer for your soul. Ask and you shall receive!
K.Oni
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