“Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Who is your model? Who is the person whose life yours is most lived in imitation of? A parent? A grandparent? A friend? Some celebrity? Here’s a better question: are your efforts at imitation intentional or unconscious? Everybody has somebody whose life is the pattern they are seeking to match whether they realize it or not. If you don’t know who your person is, that means you are doing it unconsciously which means it may be a person you don’t want to be modeling. Here’s one more question: who is using your life as a model? Paul offers us an example here that is worth considering. Let’s do that.

I remember a friend in high school that I wanted to be just like. He was a senior when I was a freshman, and I thought he was the coolest thing since sliced bread. I spent the rest of my high school career trying to be just like him, to fill his shoes after he graduated. It affected how I dressed, the kind of music I listened to, how I related to other students, and so on and so forth. Fortunately, he was a great kid who set a good example, because otherwise I likely would have shot off down the wrong path after him.

Who was your person like this? Who is your person like this? Is this person leading you down a good path, or one which, if you were thinking clearly, you know you should not walk? We are all following someone whether we think we are or not. If the someone we are following is actively pointing us in the direction of Jesus, this is not only an okay thing, it is an actively good one. If not, then we will reap the bitter rewards of our choice and much sooner than we might imagine.

This means that we need to consider carefully who our sources of influence are. And because someone can gain a position of influence in our lives so subtly, we have to be constantly conscious of our sources of input. If those sources are primarily worldly, that is going to affect our thinking in ways that lead us away from Christ. But if our input is coming from godly sources, we will be all the stronger for them.

This is why being in the church is so important. But not just any church. We need to be in a Gospel-centered church that is filled with people who actively love the Lord and are conscious of the kind of example they are setting for one another. If you have kids, this becomes all the more important. You need to be in a church filled with people who lives you want your kids to notice and model their own lives after.

We need to not only be in this kind of a church, we need to be taking an active part in it. We need to be consciously setting an example for others to follow. That’s what Paul was doing with the Philippian believers. He knew they needed a model in their efforts to pursue Christ. He knew the position he had with them. And so he made sure he was following Jesus faithfully such that he could invite them to look to him as an example.

Now, it’s easy for us to criticize Paul as being arrogant here. I mean, who actually points to themselves as an example for others on purpose? But nothing about this was arrogance from Paul. It was self-awareness. Again, he knew the role he had with the Philippian believers. He knew that if they weren’t following him, they were going to be following someone else. He knew that most of the someone elses they might follow were not going to point them in the direction of Jesus. So, he made it his intentional mission to be that kind of an example for them.

The people around you – including your own kids – are going to follow someone. If you want them to be influenced in the direction of Jesus, you need to take ownership of that fact and do something about it. Be the example that they can follow. Model Christ to them in ways that are winsome and attractive. Show them by how you navigate all the various nooks and crannies of life what it looks like to love and live like Jesus did.

This means being active in pursuing the Scriptures in front of them. It means being committed to prayer to stay rooted in the Spirit because you don’t have the power to do this on your own. It means having good models who are serving as positive sources of influence for your own life. It means being active in the church so you are receiving the encouragement, support, and accountability you need to keep walking this path.

The work here isn’t easy, but if you will commit to it, the kingdom impact potential is enormous beyond measure. Who knows what God will use to accomplish through the lives of those who are looking to you as their model of what Jesus looks like. If you point them firmly in His direction, and if they walk in that direction with faithfulness and intentionality, He just might use them to change the world. Which means you will have been a part of changing the world. That seems like a worthwhile goal to pursue. Let’s do it.