Follow MY Example

There’s all kinds of stuff in today’s reading (1 Corinthians 11) that I’m not sure I understand, but I do understand the first verse, where Paul writes, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

I usually will read my chapter the night before once or twice, just to start my brain juices flowing, then get up and read it, asking God to speak to me through it. So last night when I read this I started wondering: If I put up a post that said, “Hey everyone, follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ,” what kind of response would that get? I’m guessing a few, “So you think you’re perfect now?!” and some, “Paul was an apostle, that’s different!” and a couple, “That’s a lot of pride Antonucci!” and maybe even an, “I served with Paul; I knew Paul; Paul was a friend of mine. Vince, you’re no Paul.”

But Paul didn’t believe he was perfect. He admits struggles throughout his writings. I doubt he assumed people who followed his example would be led to perfection, I think he meant that they would be led in the right direction, and that they’d be doing really well.

I also wonder if maybe our hesitancy in asking people to follow our examples is part of the church’s problem today. We need leaders who are worthy of our emulation. Yes, we want leaders who are authentic and admit when they screw up. But we also want leaders who are holy, and who are screwing up less and less.

Well, I am definitely not perfect. I need to be nicer to my wife. I’m not quite intense or disciplined enough in living the Christian life.I want to be more creative in figuring out more ways to talk to more people about Jesus. But … (gulp) … follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.