WHO IS YOUR ROLE MODEL? – Saturday October 15th
2016
Memorise: Be ye followers of
me, even as I also am of Christ. 1st Corinthians 11:1
Read: Philippians 3:14-19, (KJV)
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded:
and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us
walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them
which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now
tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and
whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
Bible in one year: Daniel
9:10, Psalms 78:55-72
MESSAGE
One
thing that thrills me about the Bible is that it is a library of books that
confirms that there is no new thing under the heaven. Everything good, bad and
ugly have happened before and they are written so that we can learn from them.
We have had many leaders in both secular and religious history; we still have
leaders in the present age. The question is; who is your role model? Show me
your model and I can tell you who you are. In the Bible reading for today, we
read about someone who was bold enough to tell his audience to follow him
because he was a follower of the Greater Master, Jesus. Open Heavens 15 October
2016:-Who is
your role model? He went further to tell the Philippians what he did
with his life:
“Brethren, I count not myself to
have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are
behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward
the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:13-14
In
his effort to please his Master and Lord, the apostle said that those things
which were gain to him, he counted as nothing so that he may win Christ and His
righteousness. He aspired to become like Jesus Christ to the point of no
return. He said in Philippians 3:10:
“That I may know him, and the
power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable
unto his death.”
We
can learn many things from the life of this apostle: If we look at the dramatic
change that followed his encounter with Jesus Christ on the way to Damascus, we
cannot help but ask whether we plan to go to the same heaven with this soldier
of the Cross. His memoirs are clearly written in 2nd Corinthians 11 and 12.
He spoke in part about the price of not only his discipleship but also of his
apostleship, as he talked of a thorn in his flesh that buffeted him and then
concluded in 2nd
Corinthians 12:9-10 by saying:
“And he said unto me, “My grace
is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Most
gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of
Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake:
for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
Beloved,
who is your role model? We have living role models in the present age; those
that are sold to the righteousness attainable only in Christ, those who have
not corrupted themselves with the affairs of this life. Their lifestyles may
not be amiable but if we follow them, our heavenly destination is guaranteed.
Paul, the apostle under study, warned us thus in Philippians 3:17
“Brethren, be followers together
of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example.”
The
reason he gave was that many, even as early as the first century Church did not
walk uprightly. As it was in the beginning so it is now. Therefore, beloved,
watch out for good role models and pattern your life after them as they do
after Christ. 15 October 2016 Open Heavens.
Action Point
Look among Christian leaders
and find out those living according to Christ’s doctrine. Follow their
footsteps.
Open Heavens Daily Devotional, written by Pastor E.A
Adeboye