1 Thessalonians 1:6
And
you became imitators of us and of the Lord, when you received the message with
joy that comes from the Holy Spirit, despite great affliction
William J. Bennett once said,
“We—all of us, need around us individuals who possess a certain nobility, a
largeness of soul, and qualities of human experience worth imitating and
striving for.”
Sadly far to many Christian’s are
living far beneath their spiritual potential of influence. “I once saw a bumper
sticker that said, “don’t follow me, I’m lost too. They are like
the commercial airplane pilot who told his passengers, “I have some good news
and some bad news. The bad news is we are lost, but the good news is we are
making good time.”
A life worth imitating is a life
fully submitted to our indwelling Lord Jesus.
( 1 Cor 11:1)This is a life lived
in the fullness of the Holy Spirit (Gal 6:5) so that the resurrection life of Jesus Christ is the
origin of our actions.
The Christian life is not hard ,it
is impossible to live in human strength. (See Galatians 3) Major Ian Thomas
told me once something I would never forget. He told me “The only thing God expects from
you in your humanness is failure.” In John 15:5 Jesus makes this clear
when he say’s apart from me you can do “nothing.” I came to this amazing
discovery that God intends to do his work thru us. All I must do is Submit to
his enabling power and cooperate with his work in our life. MINISTRY is not what we are doing for God, Ministry is only that activity that GOD DOES
THRU US.
2 Cor 4:10 our bodies continue to share in the death of
Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
The
life worth imitation is a life that by submission and obedience to Christ indwelling
presences is allowing Jesus to express his life and character thru us.
ARE YOU LIVING A LIFE WORTH
IMITATION?
