Quotes about Example

Remember as you go about your day that you may be the only Jesus some of your friends, neighbors, and family will ever see.

I am not a good example of an urban pastor. Because of the way I believe God calls me to use my time, I don't have significant relationships with most of my neighbors.

Does it surprise you that God presents himself as a model for human community?

We are called to be people of great character so that, when we come in contact with the world, our character influences those around us.

Disciples are those who have been so ravished with Christ that others want to be like them.

We do not just hear what Jesus said to do and try to do that. Rather, we also notice what he did, and we do that too.

Every single thing that Jesus taught us to do was something he had put into daily practice in circumstances just like ours.

The disciplines are practices that change the inner self and its relationship to the "helper" (paraclete), so that we can actually do what we would and avoid what we would not. They of course have no point apart from the serious intent to obey Christ's teaching and follow his example.

And in this truth lies the secret of the easy yoke: the secret involves living as he lived in the entirety of his life—adopting his overall life-style. Following "in his steps" cannot be equated with behaving as he did when he was "on the spot." To live as Christ lived is to live as he did all his life.

So the idea conveyed is an absolutely fatal one - that to follow him simply means to try to behave as he did when he was on the spot, under pressure or persecution or in the spotlight. There is no realization that what he did in such cases was, in large and essential measure, the natural outflow of the life he lived when not on the spot.

What has to be done, instead of trying to drive people to do what we think they are supposed to, is to be honest about what we and others really believe. Then, by inquiry, teaching, example, prayer, and reliance upon the spirit of God, we can work to change the beliefs that are contrary to the way of Jesus. We can open the way for others, Christians or not, to heartily choose apprenticeship in the kingdom of God.

We cannot behave "on the spot" as he did and taught if in the rest of our time we live as everybody else does.