Following Christ is Not an Easy Path

<p>Are you following Christ, or are you just a great pretender? Could someone else look at your life and copy it as a pattern for walking with God? Do you consider what your choices and decisions mean to God before you make them?</p> <p>"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." These were the Apostle Paul’s words in 1 Cor. 11:1, and it was a very bold statement. Keep in mind that Paul was just a man. In fact, he was a man with a very dark past that he openly admitted and it was no secret to others. How could a man go from being one of the greatest persecutors of Christians to one of the most devoted Christians?</p> <p>Paul learned how to live by the Word, and he encouraged believers to be “followers” of him, as he followed Christ. The unspoken part of this statement was also true: if Paul wasn’t following Christ, then he didn’t want people to follow him. Two words within the verse make this clear: “even as.” This makes his statement conditional. Paul wasn’t merely saying, “Hey everyone, copy me because I’m a super-Christian.” He knew better and besides; Paul knew his own history.</p> <p>What he was saying was this: “Copy me as I copy Christ. Imitate me as I imitate Christ. Do what I’m doing if it is according to Christ and His Word. What Paul was saying wasn’t easy, but at least he had a walk that matched his talk. Could we say, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ”? In other words, would our lives make a good pattern for someone else to help them walk with God?</p> <p>What does it look like to follow Christ? In the letter to the believers at Philippi, the instructions that were given then are still valuable to us today. Philippians 2:5-8 gives us a pattern that serves as our example. This episode breaks the pattern down into five points that we can copy as we learn to follow Christ.</p> <p><a href='https://www.keeptheheart.com/product/icu-in-christ-unconditionally-new-testament-leader-guide/'>ICU--In Christ Unconditionally New Testament Case Studies</a></p> <p><a href='http://www