God’s Inspired Example

3:17 Brethren, join in following my example

Paul was the greatest Christian that ever lived. (Jesus, of course, was not a Christian - which means a Christ-one - for He was the Christ.) Who else did God inspire to write over and over again that everyone else should follow his example? He says it not only here in Phil.3:17, but also in:

1Cor.4:16 "Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me."

1Cor.11:1 "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ."

Phil.4:9 "The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."

1Thes.1:6 "You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia."

2Thes.3:9 "in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example."

If we are to take these Holy-Spirit-inspired exhortations seriously, we must begin to take this man Paul seriously. But how can we follow his example if he is dead and gone? He lives on in his epistles and in the book of Acts. His epistles are not just full of Christian truth, they are full of the life of Christ as seen in the life of Paul. They are not just given to us to teach us doctrine. They are given to teach us how to live and how to love.

In light of this, we must carefully observe Paul’s life as it is portrayed in the New Testament, and pray that the same Spirit who made Paul what he was would make us what we should be. If God can turn Christian Enemy Number One into the greatest Christian that ever lived, He can certainly turn you and me into godly Christ-loving and Christ-honoring people.

You can do it, almighty Father! All my might and all my power are totally inadequate. But Your Holy Spirit can do mighty things! The world and the devil are against me, but I know that He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world. Thank You for showing Your surpassing power in the man they called Saul of Tarsus. Please work in my life like You did in his. Please turn my life around for Jesus. Please conquer me and subdue me to Yourself, that I may be Your happy captive and slave forever.