LIVING WORD DEVOTIONAL
By Pastor Mensa Otabil

Thursday 12th February 2026

EMULATE CHRIST’S EXAMPLE

Scripture Reading: 1 John 2

But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this, we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. 1 John 2:5–6

The Apostle John tells us what happens to us when we obey God’s word. He says if we do that, the love of God will be perfected in us. That means we will mature in the way we exhibit God’s love. This is a crucial measure of our growth in obedience to God’s word. How gracious and loving are you? How well do you treat others? These are the marks of our obedience to God. 

John also gives us another way of knowing that we belong to Christ – we walk as He walked. That means we live our lives the way He lived His life.

To “walk as Jesus did” doesn’t mean choosing twelve disciples or being crucified. We cannot merely copy everything in Christ’s life. Some of the things that Jesus did were related to His identity as God’s Son and His special role in dying for sin. 

To walk as Jesus walked, we must imitate Him in two important areas.

Complete obedience to God.

Jesus portrayed in human terms absolute obedience to the Father. This covered every aspect of His earthly life. It is a tough demand considering the price there is to pay to always keep in step and surrender to God’s will. But it’s possible to walk as Jesus walked through the help of the Holy Spirit. Anyone who wonders how to obey God can look at Jesus. 

Loving and serving people:

Jesus showed God’s love to us. He displayed compassion whenever people came to Him for healing and forgiveness. His love was not limited only to those who received Him and followed Him; He loved His persecutors and those who crucified Him as well. He told us that love would be the hallmark of His followers. The Lord loved us by giving Himself to us and forgiving us of our sins. 
 
As we commit to these, the world will know that we are Christ’s disciples. 

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, help me to live my life as Christ lived. Use me to demonstrate your love to the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.