“For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15).
As we focus on the cares of this life, the stress that our concerns create can so easily interfere with our walk with the Lord. We can even allow our purpose as Christians to become confused. In our thoughts, we actually begin to believe that worldly ideas of success and happiness are important to our salvation. Making money and achieving position can almost become a matter of religious duty in our skewered thinking.
Yet, Jesus Christ, our perfect example, never sought power or position. In fact, if anything, He avoided recognition or appearance of achievement. His will was to do the will of His father in heaven. No ruler or leader of the day received special treatment at His hands and no beggar or outcast was treated as less than important.
In times of confusion and stress, Jesus often sought out a secret place to pray. His prayers were not “greedy prayers” filled with requests for things that he wanted or felt that He needed, instead they reigned in His desires and prayed that the Father’s will be done. How different those prayers are from our mumbled complaints and communications with God!
Jesus Christ had real compassion that made a difference in the lives of the people He met. Everywhere He went, the influence that He left changed lives. No where in Scripture is it recorded that He scribbled off a check to charity or sent a turkey to the local homeless shelter. His every act of compassion was “hands on.”
Even though He was the very ‘image of the invisible God,’ Jesus did not teach with the finger, but rather taught by example. He could have had every luxury that life afforded, but He chose to wander from village to village with not so much as a pillow for His head.
Reading Scripture illustrates the stark contrast of today’s Christian from the example that we all have to follow. And while God does not intend for all of His children to live in poverty, He clearly does expect that we should not allow our walk in Christ to become clouded with the cares of the flesh.
“For even hereunto where ye called; because Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (I Peter 2:21). |
