IMITATE ME?

READ

“4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

-Philippians 4:4-9

THINK

We see Paul give us a guideline to have a holy mind in this passage. He tells us to “think about these things” or to meditate on them. Who is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable? Does dwelling on the things of God change your perspective? How so?

In verse 9 Paul makes what seems like a crazy statement, he says “what you have learned and received and heard in seen in me- practice these things”. He’s telling the Philippian church to watch how he lives and what he does and live like that, do that. We jump to the accusation of arrogance and or self-righteousness when we see statements like that, but Paul is living a life of integrity passionately pursuing God and so he can say in humility imitate me. If we want to see God use us to change our generation we will need to live with this kind of integrity. Where is your life at in comparison to being able to say “imitate me as I imitate Christ”?

What changes in your life need to happen to be able to say that?

PRAY

These thoughts and prayers are just a guide to get you started in your conversation with God. Think of them as conversation starters rather than a check list to quickly pray.

“Think about these things”

Ask God to help you allow His peace to guard your hearts and minds

“What you have seen in me…do these things”

Pray that God will walk you into a life of integrity so that your life may reflect Christ to those you come in contact with.