Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 88

March 29;   I Corinthians 11:1;   144/260(I);   ‘Imitate Me’ 

1 Corinthians 11:1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

Some lives are worth imitating.  The Apostle Paul was one of them.  Was he perfect? Certainly not.  As you read the book of Acts and the Pauline Epistles (Romans through Hebrews), it is clear that Paul was committed to the ministry the Lord gave him and never gave up in spite of incredible persecution and at times betrayal.  So much of what we know concerning what belongs to us because of the resurrection of Jesus, has been taught to Paul by the Holy Spirit.  Paul in turn wrote all of it down in his letters (epistles) to us, the church.  Remember that there is one Author of the Word of God, the Holy Spirit.  Several men wrote Books of the Bible, but each of them were inspired by the Holy Spirit.  Paul was headed down the wrong road, he was a religious bigot.  The Lord Jesus confronted Paul on the road to Damascus and he did an instant about face, serving the Lord with all of the intensity that he served the Jewish religion with.  This surely is one way we can imitate him.  Forgetting what we were and did prior to our salvation and now diligently pursuing our Christianity.  Paul never quit in the ministry, even though there were times he was abandoned, just like Jesus.  Paul taught everyone he could wherever he was, just like Jesus.  Paul healed the sick, just like Jesus.  Paul was a man of prayer, just like Jesus.  This is what we should all want to be.  By studying the gospels to duplicate Jesus’ ministry  and by studying Acts and the Pauline epistles to be like Paul, we get ‘the best of both worlds’  Their love, compassion, commitment and power.  We too can imitate Paul as he imitated Jesus.