Merry Christmas!

 Good morning. Paul tells us to keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. Too many Christians live the way they should for a while, and then for whatever reason they fall away from it. They may put on a show in church, but in the outside world they act no differently than the rest of the people. As we've said before, the outside world chips away a little bit at a time from God's standard. When we compromise a little bit, we eventually hit bottom and act just like the people of the world. He then tells them to follow his example and observe those who walk according to the pattern they have in him. We are to walk as our spiritual leaders, as long as they walk according to the word of God. Some believers get so bad they become just as Paul says: many walk of whom I have often told you that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. That is true with too many people who used to be good members of churches. They get so bad that you seriously wonder if they ever were true believers. They act as if they are citizens of the world; when in fact our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember: "this world is not my home, I'm just a passing through". Since our citizenship is in heaven, that is where our thoughts should be – where our treasures should be. While we are here, we have our earthly, frail bodies. But Jesus will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. Father thank You that the reader keeps living by that standard to which he/she has attained. He/she keeps her thoughts on heavenly things where his/her citizenship is.