Imitate

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:1

 Who are your heroes? Who do you look up to? Who are the people that influence your life? All of us have people that we admire and would love to meet. As a boy and a young man my idols were sports figures and movie stars. Larry Csonka, Bob Griese, Mercury Morris, and Nick Buoniconti were my sports heroes. The characters that Clint Eastwood played were the type of men I wanted to become. Jimmy Page, Mark Farmer, and Ozzy Osborne were the rock stars that I idolized.

When God called me to be His an amazing thing happened. The people that meant so much to me, the people I wanted to imitate stopped being such a powerful influence in my life. As I have grown in Christ my heroes have changed. Their names are not well known to those outside the fellowship of Christ. John Wycliff, John Calvin, John Knox, Johnathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, Oswald Chambers, and John MacArthur are just a few of my heroes.

However, as a follower of Christ the one that I want to be most like is my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This side of heaven I will always fall short of living a holy life but this does not negate the fact that as a believer in Christ we all are called on to live holy and pleasing lives. Paul understood this and when he wrote to the Corinthians he knew he had to live a life that other believers would imitate. The same is true for each one of us. People should be able to look at us a followers of Christ and see lives worth imitating.

Who are your heroes? Who do you imitate?  

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark