Men, Are You Someone to Imitate?

I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

(1 Corinthians 4:14-17 ESV)

Be imitators of Paul. This is a recurring theme that you'll see in Paul's letters (1 Cor 11:1, Phil 3:17, 2 Thess 3:7-9). And since it occurs that much, it must be something important that we should take note of. I find two things that we can pick up from this verse, and I would like to tackle each of them below.

I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

Walking alone is hard when we're answering the call to follow Christ. We're going to be going against the current of the norm. Walking the narrow way would include things that are known to be boring or primitive in our current society. You'll be seen as someone who's backward and most probably be discouraged if you do it alone.  First, having someone to look up to is important in a persons personal growth in Christianity. I'm blessed to have people around me that I can imitate. The people who took me under their wing varied from the stoic readers that would always insist on reading and renewing your mind (Rom 12:2) to the kind hearted man who would spend time and counsel them till they feel at peace. It's important to have someone visible and tangible around us that we could follow and be accountable to. I also find it necessary to have these  people in our lives to be there when we're discouraged and would guide us when we don't know what to do or where we need to be on any given situation. For me, these are the guys that I would call in the middle of the night just to ask if what I'm doing is still in accordance to the walk that I committed my life to. These are the guys that would tell me straight when I'm caught doing no good. These are the guys that I entrust my life to, and these are the guys who helped me where I am now. We need our spiritual fathers and guides in Christ to help us walk the walk they have previously walked and help us steer our way out of trouble as Christ has steered them. 

That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

Now to the other side of the story, can we consider ourselves as someone who can be sent as a reminder of how our fathers have walked?

I would appeal to the men of the faith. We may have walked with others before us, but now that we're here, can we consider ourselves as someone who can take the young people of our time and tell them to watch us? Do our actions and deeds remind us of ways our mentors in Christ have walked before? Can we tell the people who look up to us to imitate us while we imitate Christ? This is something that we should be mindful of because our goal as would be mentors is to point people to the God we're excited about. We need to show and tell them why we're walking this way when others aren't. The world will always be active in trying to capture their attention and would always provide a better option not to follow us and it wouldn't help at all if we're no different than this world.

The best way to lead young people to walk the way we would want them to walk in Christ is to show them how this is done. How we conduct our lives will always be the first thing that the people around us would notice.

For us who have walked before others, let's take a moment to look at our lives and see if we're someone who could tell those who are younger to be imitators of us. Not because we're perfect or we've had it all together, but because we've felt the love of Christ that compels us to love and pursue the call that he has placed before us.

What is your Shield?

Ned produced Robert's letter. "Lord Varys, be so kind as to show this to my lady of Lannister."
The eunuch carried the letter to Cersei. The queen glanced at the words. "Protector of the Realm," she read. "Is this meant to be your shield, my lord? A piece of paper?" She ripped the letter in half, ripped the halves in quarters, and let the pieces flutter to the floor.
-excerpt from A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin

Ned ended getting the bad side of the deal. He banked on the words that King Robert wrote before his death and thought that words on paper was enough to become the Lord Protector of the Realm. Unfortunately, Queen Cersei had a greater hold on the throne, she had Joffrey, the Kings son, and rightful heir to the throne.

Cersei's question to Ned before she ripped Robert's last requests was the very inspiration of this blog. Is this meant to be your shield, my lord?

Being a Christian, it has always been a question of mine if I really am one. There are countless times where I see myself down on the ground limping because of my sin compared to the times wherein I'm comfortable standing and banking on the righteous deeds that I have just done. Where could I base my Christianity? Where could I firmly hold my belief, even through the life I live, that I am indeed a Christian? Do I have that piece of paper that would say that yes, I am in good standing and, figuratively speaking, rightfully able to claim that place? Or do I have that same assurance, like Queen Cersei had, that no matter what happens, through blood and the hierarchy of their family that Joffrey, and not Ned would rule? What is my shield?

I want to share my thoughts from my journal regarding this matter. I want to share with you the thoughts that I've wrestled with and what I've thought to be my shield and my conclusion.

Whose Glory are we After?

Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

(John 12:42-43 ESV)

The following chapter in John marked the final part of Christ's public ministry. All that was needed to be said was said and all that was needed to be done was done. Miracles, sermons, parables, you name it, all of these things were already done to provide the people of Israel a teaser for the glory that is to come. His final act was inching in and yet, we'd still find people who didn't believe.

You might want to ask what did they miss? They had front row seats to see the life of Christ and yet, they still couldn't put the things they've witnessed into a declaration. What hindered them from doing so?

In The Beginning God...

Joshua Harris helped me realize one thing when I started reading Dug Down Deep. I realized that I knew nothing of God. I had opinions and have followed other peoples opinions, but I didn't know anything about the God of the Bible. Yes, I've been to Sunday schools and have attended church all my life, I even led youth services before and preached in small groups, and yet I still found myself stuck in sin, and I sinned a lot. And because of my deeds and actions and what I knew was missing in my theology, I agreed with what Harris wrote, let me quote him.

We're either building our lives on the reality of what God is truly like and what he's about, or we're basing our lives on our own imagination and misconceptions.

We're all theologians. The question is whether what we know about God is true.

On Fasting

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

(Matthew 6:16-18 ESV)

There was a time that I was distasteful of fasting. Not just because I loved food, but because I've always thought of this as pretentious or hyper spiritual. I didn't quite understand and found it hypocritical to see people fast and pray. The reason behind this distaste was because the people that I had around me who does such things lived lives which you may define as someone of a lower level of spiritual maturity. I've always thought that fasting was only for those who in the graduate school of the faith. It's for the hardcore and shouldn't be done by the lowly beginner sinner like me. Boy was I wrong.

Thank You Rob Bell

A little over a year ago a huge controversy had hit the Christian world. There's this book authored by Rob Bell that questioned the doctrine of Hell and the Wrath of God. Personally, I didn't get to read the book, I can't really say something about it but it was controversial enough to create a loud buzz around the blogger world.

I only got to watch the promotional video that Rob Bell made before they released the book. I'm not a fan, but curiosity led me to go to YouTube and check the trailer out. I have to admit, the video in itself caused me to ask where he got these things, but I'll reserve these comments till I read his book.