 Hi, this is Pastor David Rosales of Calvary Chapel of the Chino Valley, California. When I bought our first house, I decided to tear out all of the grass in our backyard and replant the area with new grass. Before I could reseed it, it had rained and had muddied up the area. I still remember walking out of the back door and across the wet dirt when I heard the sound of the back door slamming and and then heard a kind of grunting sound behind me. When I turned to see who was making the sounds, it was my four-year-old son, Joseph. He was taking exaggerated steps, grunting with each one. I finally asked him, what are you doing, Joseph? And he answered, I'm following in your footsteps, Dad. It was then that I noticed that I had left my tracks in the soft dirt and that he was stretching to match me stride for stride. It was also then that I realized that my son was literally walking in my footsteps. He was using me as the template for how he would walk. In the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 1, the apostle Paul reminded the church that they had received from him how they ought to walk and to please God. They were his children in the faith, and as their spiritual father, he wanted to encourage them to walk in a way that was God honoring and would be blessed by the Lord. How were they supposed to conduct themselves? How were they to walk? He had already prayed that they would love one another and love others. The Christian walk is earmarked by love, not only for other believers, but also for others in general. Someone wrote, at no other time in the history of Christianity did love so characterize the entire church as it did in the first three centuries, and Roman society took note. Titullian reported that the Romans would exclaim, behold, how they love one another. Loving people in general is also a visible expression of the fruit of the Spirit. The love of the early Christians wasn't limited simply to their fellow believers. Christians also lovingly helped non-believers, the poor, the orphans, the elderly, the sick, the shipwrecked, even their persecutors. Jesus had said, love your enemies, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. The early Christians accepted this statement as a command from their Lord, rather than as an ideal that couldn't be actually practiced in real life. He also prayed that their hearts would be blameless in holiness. The fact is, if God's love filled their hearts, their lives would reveal it through the way that they lived. What then would be the evidence that we are children of God? It is the evidence, not only of our embracing proper teaching, but obviously includes the living out of the teachings. A walk that is pleasing to God is a walk of faith, a walk of love, a walk of wisdom, a walk that is morally pure, a walk known for love and obedience to the Word of God, and a walk in the light of Jesus Christ, this kind of life, is pleasing to God. We must remember that we have divine orders concerning our manner of life, and that our lives are set apart for Jesus, that He might be glorified through us. We are to let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. There are many who at this point cry out that I am guilty of legalism, but that is all too often the response of those who habitually stretch God's grace to give them permission to ignore His Word and continue to live in sin. We must remember that, though the Christian lives in the world, we are not to allow the world to live in us. In a day when a call to live lives that are separated from God is regarded as unloving and harsh, the fact still remains that Jesus clearly said, if you love me, keep my commandments. He also asked the question, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things that I say? We also must remember that people live what they believe. In a time when information for many is what they regard as knowledge, we must remember that knowledge is not simply information, but in fact is information that has produced transformation. In other words, it is not simply what we say that we know, it is how we put in to practice the things that we say we believe. Jesus said, if you know these things, blessed are you, if you do them. My prayer for us all is that God's word would be our daily food, and that honoring him would be our greatest desire. May you love his word, and I pray that the church you attend feeds your spirit with more than cotton candy messages that make you feel good. May you have a walk that is abounding in love for others, is blameless, and is centered on pleasing the Lord. This is Pastor David Rosales of Calvary Chapel of the Chino Valley, California.