The Right Role Model

Following the Right Role Models

1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.”

                  Who we emulate is who we become.  Everyone has people they admire and look up to, who serve as examples.  Many of these role models are based upon what we like and want to become, and we follow them because they have achieved success in areas we desire to excel in or affirm values we uphold.  Our role models may be a person we know, a public figure we admire, or an author we read. They can have a positive influence as they challenge us to improve or be negative role models because they affirm the values that lead us in the wrong direction.  In other words, our role models can affirm both what is suitable as well as what is incorrect.  One of the most critical questions we must ask is who we want to become and who are the people that model those characteristics?

                  Throughout scripture, we discover that to be a genuine believer in Christ is to make Him our ultimate role model.  When we accept Christ as our savior, not only are we asking Christ to save us from sin and judgment, but we are also to make Christ the pattern of what we are to become.  To embrace Christ’s salvation is to embrace him as the person we desire to reflect.  We are saved not only from sin but to become like Christ.  Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”  To be a disciple of Jesus is to live like Jesus.  Paul commends the believers in Thessalonica because they had set Christ as the example and pattern they sought to follow.  “imitator” is a word that we derive from the English word “mimic.”  To mimic someone is to copy their actions, attitudes, behaviors, and words.  It is to do what Christ does.  Christ becomes our ultimate role model.  Like children mimicking the actions of their parents, we are to mimic the actions of Christ.

                  This becomes the basis for evaluating our role models in our lives. Those we choose to follow are people who follow Christ. Having embraced Christ, they live like Jesus and follow others who likewise serve as godly role models. In evaluating our role models, the first question we must ask is, do they follow Jesus, and do they strive to be like him?  

                  As Paul commends the church for following Christ, Paul then takes it a step further.  Not only did they become imitators of Christ and His followers, but they also became an example for others as well.  The word “example” is the word from which the word “type” is derived.  In other words, as they follow Christ, they become a pattern for others.  We impact others when Christ becomes evident in us and through us.  Not only should we strive to follow the right people, but we should strive to be an example for others to follow. 

Are we following people who are godly men and women?  Are we choosing as our role models those who proclaim Christ and point us to him?  Are we being a godly example for others to follow as well?  Who we follow is who we become. Therefore, we need to make sure that they are first and foremost followers of Christ. One of the most important questions we should ask is, who are the role models we follow?  Who we admire is who we become.