“For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:”
that you should follow His steps
God wants us to emulate the character and conduct of Christ. “Follow” means to follow after, follow close upon.
The implication is that we are to comply closely with the life of Christ. We should put our lives in conjunction with Christ. God wants us to go the same way as Jesus (
Mark 8:34; 9:38; 10:21 ). We should make our lives happen along with His, and accompany Him along the journey. The implication is that we are to wholly follow Christ or to devote ourselves to Him. God wants us to give Jesus our whole heart. God wants us to take the same road as Jesus. He wants us to follow closely upon His path.“Steps” means tracks. We are to follow the tracks of Christ. Our behavior should be the same as His. Let us imitate Him. We do not do as others do, we do as He does. The New Testament uses the word “steps” for Abraham’s faith (
Romans 4:12 ) and for carrying on the work of the Gospel (2 Corinthians 12:18 ). We are to take the same road as Christ and apply the truth of suffering to our experience.Note that this passage does not say “follow in His steps.” It says simply “follow His steps.” God wants us to go in the same direction Jesus went (
Hebrews 12:1-4 ). We get our signals from him. He sets the example for us to follow (Romans 15:3 ). .
Principle:
God wants us to copy Christ and reproduce His character in our lives.
Application:
When Christians suffer insult with uncomplaining steadfastness, they show the life of Christ to others.
Christians sometimes meet spiritual pygmies. They then go back to back with them and say “I have outgrown them spiritually.” Yes, but they are measuring themselves against a spiritual dwarf.
Instead of measuring yourself against a spiritual midget, why not measure yourself against a spiritual giant – Jesus Christ? Back up to the Lord Jesus and measure yourself against Him. Then you will realize how far you have to grow in grace. His spiritual reflexes were perfect. Anyone measured up against Him is mighty small. Sheep should follow the Shepherd, not other sheep.
If we do something wrong at work, how do we react? Is there any difference between the way we react and the way those who do not know Christ react? If our reaction is different from theirs, they will sit up and take notice. We have something that they do not have. This has great influence on non-Christians. However, this is exactly where we fail before our wives, husbands, children, parents and business associates.
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