Tuesday, June 28, 2011
An Example to Follow
“What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting.” —Matthew 18:7
People who want to undermine the faith of Christians, especially young ones, will be in for a day of reckoning. God takes this very seriously. Jesus said that for anyone who would go out of their way to try to hurt someone in their spiritual life or to challenge it or destroy it, it would better if a millstone were tied around their neck and they were drowned in the depths of the sea (see Matthew 18:6).
Here is what we need to remember: we are being watched by younger believers every day. In 1 Timothy 4:12 we read, “Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” The apostle Paul also wrote, “Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example” (Philippians 3:17). That is what every Christian should be able to say. I would never say, “I am a perfect example. Do everything that I do,” but I think I could say, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” If you are a follower of Christ, I hope you could say that too.
We should be living in such a way that a younger believer could look to our example and find something in our lives worth emulating. What if all of the church were just like you? In a sense, it is, because it is made up of people like you and me. And every one of us either contributes to its strength and growth, or we contribute to its weakness and decline.
It is not an issue of whether you are an example, because everyone is an example. The only question is, are you a good one or a bad one?
Summary Sentence: All believers are examples. Can you say, “Follow my example as I follow Christ?”
Copyright © 2011 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
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