Thursday Ponderings

1st March 2012 Imitate me!

1 Thessalonians 1:6-7, and bear in mind Paul is talking of himself - “You became imitators of us and of the Lord;...And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia” The word “imitate” used here means a pattern, sketch, and an outline of what a Christian is . 1 Corinthians 4:16 says “I urge you then to imitate me “

Right Mouse click to save this as an audio mp3 file Paul is saying look at me and do what I do. 1 Thessalonians 3:7-10 gives us a practical example. Paul says “For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.” Hebrews 13:7 advises us to “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” He’s not saying be an exact copy! We are all uniquely different. If you give a group of children an outline of an elephant they will all colour them in differently some will be red some will be yellow. We should all be recognisable as Christians but we are different shapes, have different fashion senses and have different personalities. People should notice we’re different! We should stand out from the crowd – not because we’re weird, or have no social skills. We should stand out because we’re reliable, we’re hospitable, we’re friendly, forgiving, we are loving, gentle and self controlled. We should stand out from the crowd because we don’t gossip, everything we say about and to other people is encouraging. We are patient, kind, ready to listen to others rather than just talking about ourselves. People should want to be around us because the aroma of Jesus oozes from us. We can never be like that unless we stay close to God, He is the key. The more time we spend worshipping him alone, praying to Him on our own, studying his word the more we will become like Him. Then we can say to other Christians “Imitate me!” just as Paul said to the Thessalonians!

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