Imitators of Christ

(our theme for October)

2 Corinthians 5:17 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Each day, a part of us passes away, and something new is born. Every cell in our being passes eventually and new cells are created continually. Each day we wake renewed—as potential. Every day we have a choice—one basic choice—to love.

To confess our sins is to accept the forgiveness of the resurrection and to accept our imperfection.  Recreating one’s self every single day gives the opportunity to accept the past and hope for the future. Each day gives us the opportunity to be the person we would like to be and not spend our time worried about what happened or the uncertainty of what might happen.

Reconciliation is the act of harmonizing. Reconciling one’s self to God means being in harmony. To harmonize, we must know the melody. To know the melody of God, we must understand the teachings of Christ who made the will of God visible to mankind. 

Any musician will tell you that worrying about missed notes—past or future—will ruin any performance. Missing a note allows us the opportunity to improvise. To improvise is to accept the reality of the moment and make the best of it. Missing a note and improvising provides us with surprises and chances to learn new things.

Accepting our imperfection and using a little improvisation as a prayer of forgiveness allows us to atone. Confessing our sins allows us to be at one with God- to reconcile- to harmonize- to make peace and move forward.

Like the human body, the body of Christ collectively is an ever changing organism reborn every morning moving forward. Accept your part and move forward. Better yet, welcome your part gladly and find joy in the surprises and opportunities that life presents. Each new day we are going on to perfection. Let us enjoy the journey.

Prayer:

Pray with me today and everyday that our paths are made straight by reconciling ourselves to God and going on to perfection in the knowledge that each moment is lived with promise and forgiveness.

This devotional was written by Jill Pope and read by Sally Stovall.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.