Tag Archives: modeling

October 5
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“Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.”  (Philippians 3:17, NIV)

Every person is a “model.”  Some people are examples of what to do; and others are examples of what not to do.

Paul encouraged the disciples in Philippi to follow his own example, and to follow others in the community who live similarly.

Righteous living needs to be encouraged because it often requires making choices that are contrary to the culture; such as, eschewing the love of money, loving our enemies, and being kind to the poor.

If you are discouraged because it seems that you’re alone on the narrow path of righteous living, look around!  When you find a fellow-traveler, keep your eyes on him or her, even if from afar.  – Luther

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July 30
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“After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.  When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.  About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.”  (Acts 16:23-25, NIV)

D. L. Moody (1837-1899), the noted 19th Century evangelist, said: “Out of 100 men, one will read the Bible, the other 99 will read the Christian.”

His words are as true today as when Moody spoke them more than 100 years ago; or as they were nearly 2,000 years ago when Paul and Silas were thrown — bloody and sore from a severe beating — into prison, and their feet were put into the stocks. Theirs was a utterly miserable and hopeless situation, but Silas and Paul did not allow an adverse situation to provoke from them an adverse response.  They responded by praying and singing hymns to God!

Then, as now, the world watches the Christian in his or her adversity.  Will he curse or will he bless?  Will she complain or will she encourage?

As Moody said, only one person in 100 will have read the God’s word.  When the other 99 read you — the representative of God nearest to them — what do they learn?  – Luther

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October 29
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“You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings — what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. . . But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”  (2 Timothy 3:10-11,14-15, NIV)

In these, Paul’s final words to his protege Timothy, we have the commendation of a holy life to another person walking the same path.

What will we “senior” disciples commend to those coming behind us? Does our lifestyle, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, and our personal testimony of the Lord’s deliverance from perils give them courage and hope in their time of testing?

A benefit of our pain and suffering is our testimony of God’s faithfulness through all of it.  When those who know us best look at our life, do they see a faithful God and an unyielding hope; or is it something less?  – Luther

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