Paul said what!

1 Cor 4:14-16
 15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you, imitate me.
NKJV

I have read this passage so many times, yet as I read it recently I understood it for the first time! Paul mentions something about having 10,000 instructors. Everyone is an expert and know what everyone else should do. Have you ever known someone whose calling in life is to go around and correct everyone else? To be honest, there have been times when this was my approach. Telling everyone what they were doing was wrong and what they needed to do in order to get it right with God!

 Although I changed that manner of instructing a long time ago, for the first time I really understood the passage before us. What people really need are spiritual fathers (parents)… those who will come along side of them and show them, mentor them, live the Christain live before them, authentically and passionately.

This has reminded me that my expample and intentionally living out the Christian life before new Christians is vital to the expansion of the kingdom of God.

Anyone can be a religious instructor who has been a follwer of Jesus Christ for any amount of time. It takes someone special who can be a spiritual parent to those who need to see it in order to learn it.

Let’s be as Paul who in this bold statement says “imitate me.” (v16)

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