THE VERSE
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.~Luke 6:36
THE THOUGHT
The standard for how to live as Christians is not what the people around us do, not even what the pastor or your friends do. Our standard of conduct is much higher than that; we are called to imitate God in everything we do. He is the One by whom we measure our lives. Everything He is is everything we are to be. "Be holy as I am holy." "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful." "As I have loved you, so love one another." "Be imitators of God."So how do we know the character of God, and thereby know how we are to strive to live? Read the Word! The Bible is God's self-revelation to us, given to us that we might know Him and love Him and be conformed to the image of His Son. Fill your heart with the Word of God, and you will find yourself being changed from the inside out by its transforming power, making you more like your Father in heaven.
THE PRAYER
Father, The cry of my heart is to be like You. I want to be holy, I want to be merciful, I want to be loving. Help me, by the power of Your Holy Spirit working through Your Word, to be conformed into Your likeness, to be an imitator of God. I fail every minute of every day to live up to this high calling, though; thank you for the blood of Your Son that pays the penalty for my guilt and enables me to stand after falling time and time again.EXTENDED READING
Matthew 5:43-48Luke 6:35-36
Ephesians 5:1-2
1 Peter 1:14-16
THE QUOTE
"Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in the light of God's holiness and our sinfulness." ~C.J. MahaneyTHROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
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