How then... shall we live?

The other day I was watching a kids program on television with my grand daughter. A couple of teen girls were featured. One carried a cell phone and was constantly texting friends, and the other girl was a teen who struggled to say a kind word about anyone else. They challenged each other to see who could go the longest without texting or saying something derogatory to someone else.

We watched as the girl with empty hands would start texting with her fingers, but no phone. We also watched as the other girl continually stopped mid-sentence every time she opened her mouth to speak. Just about everything she said to someone else was of a sarcastic nature.

It is interesting how our minds become so programmed to our thinking that we don't even realize what we are doing sometimes. It just happens... And sadly, our most obvious negative patterns are what we reveal to people without realizing it. You see it everywhere... "the crude and rude." People are often shocked when a stranger extends a kindness to them.

Recently, while driving to Burnaby to a meeting, the traffic was getting congested near the Port Mann Bridge. You've been there... always, another car trying to edge into your lane. As I approached the bridge, a car needed to get into my lane... so I slowed down and let the person in. As the person moved into my lane, I couldn't see their face but I could see their hand waving back and forth with gratefulness and thankfulness. They were so exuberant, it made me chuckle and I laughed all the way across the bridge. It actually lightened my day and made me feel good. It was such a simple thing but I felt blessed.

As we live our daily lives, we become imitators of the one who holds the key to our hearts. The book of Ephesians says a lot about how we should live. But we can't live the way God wants us to, unless he holds that key. And it's not just, that God holds the key, but that He has unlocked the door and came inside.

Thank goodness, God is a forgiving God because we all mess up sometime or another. But He does admonish us to live our lives carefully, and to determine what pleases Him. He wants us to be an encouragement to other people, to be kind, tenderhearted toward one another and forgiving as He forgave us. He wants us to...

Imitate God, therefore in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. Ephesians 5:1

So be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Ephesians 5:15-17