Copycats

We are all copycats.

We might think that we are original. Unique. Different.

But in reality, everything that we do, say or think has been taken from someone else.

Granted, you probably have brought together a mixture of imitation that no one else has. But it's just the mixture that is unique.

Think of an newborn.

How does he learn to talk? By copying what he hears.

Take a baby born in the US to English-speaking parents. Put him in a Spanish-speaking family in Argentina. He'll speak Argentinian Spanish, not US English. In fact, he'll probably struggle in English classes in school, like all the others in his class.

He listened to what was around him and learned to shape his mouth and tongue to produce the unique sounds that he was hearing.

Every thought that we have had, has originated in a thought that someone else had. We read a book. We ask a question. We watch TV. We listen to music.

All of that shapes our thoughts.

We are not copying everything that we see or hear. We pick and choose what we want to copy.

Therefore, it is highly important that we choose carefully whom we imitate.

Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "Be imitators of God as beloved children" (Eph 5:1).

What better standard for the Christian than to be an imitator of God?

Obviously, none of us can part the Red Sea or create the universe, but there are attributes of God which we can copy.

For starters: Holiness. Righteousness. Justice. Mercy. Love. Truth. Patience.

Being an imitator of God gives us a filter for all the other copying that we are doing.

When we listen to a conversation about parenting, we can ask ourselves, "Are these godly methods?"

When we decide what clothes to wear by looking at what everyone else is wearing, we can ask ourselves, "Will these clothes bring honor to God, or to myself?"

When we hear about others cheating on their spouses, we can filter that through the question, "Does God cheat on His bride, the church?"

When we're caught up in a discussion that turns to an argument, we can pause and ask, "Is this how God would respond to this person?"

Being an imitator of God guides us in the multitude of decisions we make each day.

It gives us the opportunity to choose what we do, say or think, not on the grid of what everyone else is doing, but on God's standards.

Peace Protests

Doesn't that seem like an oxymoron?

Combining "peace" and "protest" just doesn't seem to fit together.

When we protest, we are after something that we want. We are concerned with our goals and ambitions. But does that generally lead to peace?

"What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?" (James 4:1)

When I let my passions take control, when I let them win the battle, then I'm on the way to a quarrel with someone else.

People are always getting in my way. I want to take the day off, but the boss won't pay me if I don't come in to work. I want the temperature at church to be set to my body, but there are 250 other people there. I want to ... but...

Every time there is a quarrel, it's because I want something that I'm not getting.

Look at the verse before James 4:1:

"And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace" (James 3:18).

Don't we all want a harvest of righteousness sown in peace?

The solution is to be a peacemaker.

Identify the problem and attack it, not the other person.

Identify the problem and solve it; don't ignore it.

Come to the best possible biblical solution to the problem

Then you'll be a peacemaker. You won't always get what you want, if you're following your selfish passions.

But if what you want is a harvest of righteousness sown in peace, you'll get it.

One or the Other - You Choose

When we went to Grandma Daily's for the holidays, she always had at least two choices of pie. Chocolate meringue and tart cherry are the ones that I remember the most.

My problem was that I could never decide between the two. Of course, I'd already stuffed myself on the other food. But I was a kid and later a teen, so I always had room for pie!

So, what does a grandma do in a situation like that?

She cut the pieces in half and gave me a piece of each! I didn't have to decide between one or the other. I could have both. A great solution for a person who has trouble making up his mind.

That's not how it always works.

Jesus said in Luke 16:13, "No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."

Notice what Jesus did not say.

He did not say that money was bad. He did not say that being rich or poor makes a difference in your spiritual life.

What He said was that you can't serve God and serve money at the same time.

You have to make a choice.

And the choice is really simple if you stop to think about it.

Money is a thing that can't love you back. God is a person who demonstrated His love to you already through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Loving money can lead you to sin. Workaholics. Gambling. Stealing. Abuse of power. Deceit.

Loving God will lead you to righteous living. "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love" (John 15:10). To display your love to God, you will be obedient to Him. Living a righteous life. Putting off sin. Putting on righteousness.

You can have chocolate meringue and cherry pie. But you can't serve God and money at the same time.

So what does your day look like?

Are you using your money as a tool to show your love to God?

Are you displaying your love to God or your love of money?

You've got to choose.

Hope for the Helpless

"Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart
Who does not lift up his soul to what is false
And does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the LORD
And righteousness from the God of His salvation.
Such is the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek the face of the God of Jacob."
Psalm 24:3-6

I don't have a chance, do you?

Clean hands? No.

Pure heart? Not a chance.

Never following any sinful desires? Not even for a whole day.

Always tell the truth and always with pure motives? No way.

But I want to be in God's presence. I want to receive blessings from God.

But there's no way. I might be good for a few minutes...or seconds. But always?

I'm a sinner through and through. And you are, too.

This is quite a dilemma.

God has given us a desire to fellowship with Him. He has given us the requirements for fellowship with Him. Yet, when we look at ourselves and compare them with the standards, there is no chance that we'll ever be in fellowship with Him.

But there is a solution to this dilemma.

"For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor 5:21).

God made Christ to be sin, although He had never sinned. That's amazing.

So that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. That's double amazing.

Christ made an exchange. He had never sinned, but He became sin.

We had only sinned, but we can become the righteousness of God.

The sinless Son of God became sin. The sinful sons of men become righteousness.

That doesn't sound fair at all. And it's not.

It's grace.

Christ took what we deserved to give us what we don't deserve. He made it possible for us to have the fellowship with God for which He had created us. He made it possible for us to receive blessings from God.

Nothing that we have done. Everything that He has done.

"Amazing Grace -
How sweet the sound -
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found;
Was blind but now I see!"