Demonstrate

1 Corinthians 11:1 NKJV

Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

Yesterday we had a problem with the vacuum cleaner - it was making a revving noise and we couldn't see what was wrong.

Of course, we could have downloaded the owner's manual, but it was far easier to see someone showing how to dismantle and clean it on YouTube...

So we did and imitated the procedure step by step.

It worked!

There was a great deal of gunk blocking the suction with the infamous toothpick stuck amongst the dog's fur and dust.

My nearest and dearest painstakingly cleared the debris and restored it to working order.

We too have an owner's manual, God's Word, that shows us how to dismantle and clean up our lives - yet sometimes it's easier to watch someone demonstrating the Good News in action.

Paul wrote "imitate me as I imitate Christ". What does that mean?

Carefully watch for a genuine follower of Jesus, living out the grace and mercy revealed in Him and practically take their example on board.

The "Manual" says "love one another as I have loved you"....

See how it's done by someone who lives it out in their own life.

Then copy and paste that behaviour.

Of course, there are pitfalls in this as humans always have "feet of clay"!

Seek to emulate heroes of faith only insofar as they are following Jesus.

Each of us has an ambassadorial role in God's family to represent Jesus to the unbeliever.

Like earthly ambassadors - some are sent to big countries, others to obscure ones

Wherever we're sent we have a sphere of influence.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 NKJV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. [18] Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, [19] that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. [20] Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. [21] For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Time to "demonstrate" Jesus in my world today!