“By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” (I John 2:5b-6)

Many people in America today claim to be Christians, but this verse offers a searching challenge to everyone who does:

John says if you really abide in Christ, then you will “walk in the same manner as He walked.”  Here is a very practical point of evaluation: are you walking like Jesus walked? Does your life resemble His?  Are you doing the kinds of things that He would be doing if He were still here walking in the world? Are you spending time with the kind of people that Jesus would be with? Does your life read anything like Jesus in one of the gospels?

Too many of us substitute “church attendance” or a “good devotional time” for a Christ-like life. And those things are no substitute. They are not ends in themselves. We are to attend church and spend time in God’s word & prayer in order to make us more like Christ.  Is that happening with you?

Many of us “church attenders” and “Bible readers” need to read and attend to John’s words here: you can’t claim to be abiding in Christ if your life doesn’t look anything like His.