To read: Philippians 3:17-20
New Revised Standard Version Bible,Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
To think about:
If
I were to imitate Paul using my own words of this day and age, this might be what I would say:
Family and friends,
I really believe that the best way to live is to be a follower of Jesus. I would hope that I am showing you a good example and that you might want to imitate my way of life. Though I might slip sometimes in the temptations that confront me in my daily walk and talk here on earth, I do not want to live as an ungodly citizen with no earthly value. As I am now, my body is subject to change and decay, illness and death, compared with the glorious state of the resurrected body of the Risen Christ.
My hope is in the day when I will lay aside this mortal body which I now have and become like Christ himself. Meanwhile we are dwellers on earth but citizens of heaven. Let's keep our gaze on the good life, being imitators striving for the perfection that can only be found in Christ. You ask, "How can a person who acknowledges his/her own imperfections set him/herself up as an example?" We all fall short. We hold ourselves open for the Spirit of God to refashion and work through us. We have an inner, unique worth known only to God.
Christianity affirms that the unreachable came down within our reach in the person of Christ, not to show us all that there is a God, but to reveal the redeeming love of God, for every man, woman, child. We no longer live unto ourselves but unto God, living spiritually in him. We are marked with the Cross of Christ; therefore, let us live our daily life as "little Christs" in his image.
To pray:
Thank you, Lord, for sending your son Jesus as the perfect one to imitate. Help us to love as he loved, forgive as he forgave, and in serving others, serve him. Amen.
Northern Great Lakes Synod Vice President
First Lutheran Church, Iron Mountain, Mich.