Freedom Reigns.

July 22, 2020

One of the funniest characteristics of children is the way they soak in everything. They are always watching those around them. Funny phrases we say, little quirks in our personality, and random actions we pay little attention to – children watch them all. Pretty soon, we are creating photocopies of ourselves through the way we live our lives in front of kids. This is one of the best examples of the monkey-see-monkey-do phenomenon. Sunday, July 19, our youth pastor at The Well, Katelyn Bills, brought an incredible message about some of the characteristics we often have, and some of the characteristics of Jesus. Many of us would love to say that those characteristics always match, but we all know that is not always the case. Katelyn attacked two common stumbling blocks we encounter: pride and selfish ambition. I came to realize these two characteristics arise very sneakily in our lives. Too often we can think, “I am showing up to church, not saying those words, not going those places, etc. – I am good!” However, things such as pride and selfish ambition can be killing all the Lord wants to be doing in our lives. The characteristics of Jesus need to translate into our lives just as our characteristics translate into the little children who watch our lives. Jesus’ biggest characteristic is His unconditional love. Instead of letting our pride or selfish ambition bubble up every chance we get, we need to be loving and compassionate toward others. Jesus builds people up with encouragement; He does not find fault – amen, am I right? Jesus is also forgiving. Jesus has forgiven us of all our offenses; therefore, we should be quick to forgive those who wrong us. Jesus is humble. The world tells us to build ourselves up at all costs; Jesus tells us to point everything back to our Father. When I look at my life, I want to know that I am playing monkey-see-monkey-do with Jesus – not the world. I want His love, forgiveness, and humility to win out over pride and selfish ambition every time.