I’ve started a new devotional this year. It is called, Morning by Morning, the devotions of Charles Spurgeon with updates from Jim Reimann. In today Charles writes that Jesus Christ was made to be a covenant for the people–you and I are included in this covenant. He goes on to say that our blessed Jesus, as God, is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. So, does He have the power we need to strengthen us, subdue our enemies and sustain us? Does He have the love we need? He asks us to dive into His immense ocean of love and say, “This is all mine!” Lastly, he asks if He has the justice we need? This justice is the assurance that everything promised in this covenant will be secured for us (me).

As I continued in my devotions I then read this sentence, “The true expression of Christian character is not in good-doing, but in God-likeness.” The covenant God made with Jesus for you and me included His work to help us become more and more like Him in our very nature. All I ever wanted in life was to NOT be like my father or like my one brother. This morning my eyes were opened to the possibility of becoming more and more like Jesus. As I began to pray and recognize the limited scope of vision I’ve had, I rejected it and asked Jesus to replace this mindset I’ve had with the beauty of His character He’s been wanting to give to me (to each of us) as we (I) recognize and surrender our all to Him.

Can you see yourself jumping into this “ocean of love” Jesus has for us? I don’t swim well at all, but as I pictured myself jumping into this ocean of love I simply floated in it. This all sounds to good to be true, but this is what God is instilling into me now that I know I’m a new creation. It is one day at a time and one moment at a time. Today, each moment of this day I want to praise Him for lifting my eyes to Him rather than where they have so often been–on the ills of man.