Zig Ziglar tells how one day he was trying to assemble a tricycle he had just bought for his then four-year-old son, Tom. Ziglar became more exasperated by the minute because the proverbial bolt A was not fitting into nut B. He was about to give up when Tom, who was looking on, suddenly blurted, "I sure do love you, Dad!" Needless to say, Ziglar finished putting together that tricycle.
What motivates your spiritual life? Is it the desire for heaven in the afterlife? Is it an idea that the heavenly Father is like a celestial Santa Claus offering goodies galore just for the asking in prayer? Or is there another reason, something deeper?
Listen to Paul’s motivation as he expresses it in Philippians 3:10:
“…that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…”
Paul’s motivation was “becoming like him.” He looked at the power of the life of Jesus and said, “That is what I want to be – I want to be like him!” Cal Ripken Jr’s father was a minor league baseball player and coached and managed the Orioles at one time. During the 1996 season, Ripken Sr. was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame. Cal Jr. spoke after his father’s acceptance speech. What would he say? Listen to the story as it comes to us in The Only Way I Know:
“It was difficult. I wasn’t certain I could say what I wanted about my father and what he means to me. So I told a little story about my two children, Rachel, six at the time, and Ryan, then three. They’d been bickering for weeks, and I explained how one day I heard Rachel taunt Ryan, “You’re just trying to be like Daddy.” After a few moments of indecision, I asked Rachel, “What’s wrong with trying to be like Dad?” When I finished telling the story, I looked at my father and added, “That’s what I’ve always tried to do.”
What’s wrong with trying to be like Jesus? It’s what all of us ought to try to do. Over the next few weeks we will look at what we imitate in the life of this Jesus. Until then…blessings upon your week!
In Christ, Pastor Paul A. Fryman
Senior Pastor, State Street UMC
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Quote for the Week: “We are less convinced by what we hear than by what we see.” -Herodotus (c. 484-425 BC)
