Tuesday’s Truth is a free weekly devotional shared by Rev. Gary Mimbs
Follow The Example.
During these days of social distancing /quarantine I decided to build a “lean to” shelter on the side of the storage building at the parsonage. I had already planned to build it but I was going to do it on Saturday’s when our son Ryne could come and help me. Since I was home now most all of the time I decided to take advantage of the time and build the shelter. I will be the first to admit that I am not a great carpenter. I can do enough to get by but I could not make a living at it. Plus I haven’t built anything on my own in over 25 years. But I decided that I could build this shelter – after all – how hard could it be? (Sarcasm in case you didn’t recognize it there) Fortunately for me my next door neighbor has a lean to shelter built on his storage building. So when I wasn’t sure how to make a part fit I was able to walk over to his shelter and look at it and follow his shelter as my example. I found out that his shelter had been built by an expert carpenter so I figured that if I followed the pattern that the expert had used I would be okay. More than once I would walk over to my neighbor’s shelter and look at it and take measurements just to make sure that I was doing it right. By following the pattern laid out in front of me it made it much easier to move along in the task of building the shelter. In our spiritual lives we have the wonderful example of Jesus Christ and other Christians that are genuine that we can follow as we “build” our lives. Jesus was the perfect model and example of how to live our lives in a righteous way that pleases the Father. He makes a perfect pattern of holiness and dedication to the Word of God. When we pattern our lives after Him and follow His example we can’t go wrong. Jesus said that He was, “the (only) way, the truth and the life.” So His example to us is always perfect. Paul said in I Corinthians 11:1 – “Follow me as I follow the example of Christ”. When we are unsure in our faith walk we can look to Christ and His word but we can also look to the lives of other solid, genuine Christians. Make sure that whom we are looking to follow as an example is following Christ because He is the pattern that we model our lives after. Also WE must be living the right way as other Christians are watching our lives and patterning them after us. As I built the shelter I took every opportunity to go and look at the completed work of an expert as I was building the shelter. Sometimes more than once on the same board just to make sure that I got it right. I did this so that my shelter would turn out right. I had to follow the pattern and not take shortcuts. It is the same way with us on our Spiritual journey. Jesus never compromised or took the easy way out. We must follow His example to make our lives be complete and structurally sound in an unstable world.
In love with Jesus – Gary Mimbs