God will not accept any of my excuses for not acting godly. My paltry excuses—“I am only dust,” “in me dwelleth no good thing,” “He knoweth my frame”—are often only crutches to get me out of one scrape and ready for another. God wants me to stop acting like dust and flesh and start acting like Him.
How can I act like God? There are many ways, but here is one: “No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12). This verse sweeps away all my crutches! I act like God when I am filled with love toward others. This verse says that I can have the unspeakable privilege of behaving like God, of showing others what God is like. That is not the privilege of angels or super saints, but of common clay like myself.
The greatest need of our day is for God to become visible. He is visible to a certain extent in nature, but nature never conveys God’s love. And unless God’s love is conveyed, His fullness is not conveyed. That is where you and I come in; we may show others a mini-glimpse of God’s love.
My excuses are further destroyed when John says, “He has given us of His [own] Spirit” (1 John 4:13). That ends our camouflage! There is no use saying, “But I’m not a loving person, I’m not made that way!” We are made that way by the Holy Spirit who is in us by faith. He sheds “the love of God … abroad in our hearts” (Romans 5:5, KJV).
Lord, the world desperately needs a good look at You. Help them to get a glimpse of the lovely person You are by looking at me. And help me no longer to hide behind the mask of “it can’t be done,” for “I can do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13, NSRB).
“And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us” (1 John 3:23).
Daily with the King 