Isn’t it amazing how God’s Word can hit you right across the face from a passage written thousands of years ago. I am continuing my study through 1 Corinthians, and at the opening to the 11th chapter the words from Paul for the church at Corinth could not be more appropriate for me if I had called Paul on his cell phone and asked him for some words of wisdom on my drive to work this morning.

1 Corinthians 11:1 states, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” Paul states these words with boldness and confidence that he is living the life that God has laid out for him. Sadly, I can rarely state those words. And last night I was reminded in a pretty painful and embarrassing way.

Our oldest son Gideon woke up at around 12:30 last night and could not go back to sleep. Abby dealt with him beautifully in the night as she always does, but at close to 1:30 Gideon came back into our room and pleaded to climb into our bed, insisting that it was wake up time.  Now I love my wife, but I have a hard enough time sharing a bed with her, I like to sprawl, let alone a squirmy 3 year old as well. We asked a sobbing and pleading Gideon to go back to bed, and here begins my lesson in humility. Gideon began to cry loudly upon his return to his room, so I quickly scooped him up before he could wake up his little brother, and asked him to sleep on the couch. The bit of patience that I keep in reserve for this hour of the night quickly vanished and I found myself more tense than a bull riders buttocks. How is my son supposed to calm down when I am setting such a poor example.

Throughout today, I have been contemplating my failure as an example for my son. How can I ask my son to display patience and an even-keeled demeanor if he is not witnessing it in me? I so badly want Gideon and Abel to be men of kindness, patience, gentleness and grace, but are they seeing this lived out in me? I so want the young adults of our church to passionately pursue God and hunger for justice and righteousness, but are they seeing this lived out in me?

At a recent leadership retreat here at Central I was able to share the following questions: If everyone gave and served and prayed exactly like you, would the church be healthy and empowered? Or would it be weak and listless? To take that a step further, if your spouse listened, and served, and loved exactly like you, how would your marriage be? If your kids displayed your patience, and forgiveness, and the words that came out of your mouth, and your thirst for God, would they be where you dream for them to be?

I know that I have a long road to walk before I can consistently say, follow me, as I follow the example of Christ, but perhaps through prayer and grace I will get a little bit closer today. Are you living a life to be imitated? If others were to follow in your footsteps would they be closer to who God is calling them to be, or further away?

February 10, 2010 <> Michael Warneke

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