Color Courage September 29, 2013— byAnne Cetas Read: 1 Corinthians 4:10-17 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. —1 Corinthians 11:1 Bible in a Year: Isaiah 7-8; Ephesians 2 A radio ad for watches suggests that listeners buy a watch with a bright color band and then wear it with clothes of other colors. When people notice your watch because of its contrasting color, the ad says, “They’ll see that you have ‘color courage.’ And they’ll want to be like you.” Something in us enjoys having others follow our example. If you do a quick reading of 1 Corinthians 4, you might think the apostle Paul sounds a bit boastful when he says to follow his example of self-sacrifice (v.16). But a closer look at Paul’s words shows why he wrote so confidently. He could ask people to imitate him because he imitated Christ (11:1), the greatest Servant of all. The persecution he endured and the position he held in the church (4:10-17) all happened because Paul followed Jesus. When he mentioned that even if the Corinthians had 10,000 teachers he would still be their father in the faith (v.15), he was acknowledging that Jesus is the only reason people could trust his teaching. If we want people to imitate us, we must first imitate our Lord. If we have any reason for people to follow our example—if we have any courage to point others to the Savior—it is because of Him, not us. Joyfully following Jesus the LordAnd trusting His lead every dayMakes us examples that others can seeTo follow when trials come their way. —Sper Others should imitate us only as far as we imitate Christ. 效法我 2013年 09月 29日 - Anne Cetas 读经: 哥林多前书4章10-17节 你们该效法我，像我效法基督一样。 —哥林多前书11章1节 全年读经: 以赛亚书7-8章 以弗所书2章 某电台有个手表广告，建议听众买个表带亮丽的手表，然后穿上其他颜色的衣服。人们就很容易因强烈的色彩对比而注意到你的手表。这个广告是这么说的：「绚丽表带，引领潮流，亮丽抢眼，人人羡慕。」在内心深处，我们总会期待自己成为目光焦点，吸引人来效法我们。 如果你快速浏览哥林多前书4章，当你读到使徒保罗说，应效法他牺牲自我的榜样（16节），你可能会认为他有点自夸。但如果更仔细地去读这几节经文，便不难发现他这么有信心的原因。他能要求人们效法他，是因为他效法那位最伟大的仆人──基督（11章1节）。 保罗忍受逼迫，以及在教会中担任重要的职分（4章10-17节），全都因为他跟随耶稣。他提到，即使在哥林多教会有10,000位教师，他仍是他们属灵的父亲（15节），因他跟随耶稣，并确知人们可以完全信任他的教导。 如果我们想要让人们效法我们，我们就要先效法主。我们能够成为他人的榜样，又或者我们有勇气带领人认识救主，当记得这一切都是因为主耶稣，而不是我们有何了不起。 欢喜快乐跟随耶稣， 相信祂必日日引导， 试炼诱惑临到之时， 我们成为众人榜样。 Sper 我们效法基督的榜样，值得他人效法。
Posted on: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 05:36:04 +0000
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