One of my favorite Lewis Carroll quotes from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is, “I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it.” I find that to be true with some of these posts. It should come as no surprise that I am not perfect, and neither are you. Shocking right? As mentioned originally, some of these posts are about what I have already learned and others are about what I am learning. Knowing something and putting it into practice are very different. You can know everything about boats, but it’s not until you get out on the water that it becomes real- putting knowledge into practice.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians‬ ‭11:1‬). He is not telling you to do anything that he’s not already trying to do. It’s where the rubber meets the road- getting out there and practicing what you know to be true. And how are we to be imitators of Christ? According to Ephesians 5, it involves walking in love, avoiding not only sin, but even the appearance of sin, praising God, being thankful for everything and submitting to each other. To dig up an old phrase, WWJD-what would Jesus do? To know what he would do, you have to look at what he did do. He loved people, he followed God’s plans, he avoided sin, and gave himself up. In doing so, he became the one to be imitated.

However, that doesn’t mean Paul never failed at it (Romans 7). While we’re still alive, we will continually sin or neglect following through on doing good. When that happens, it’s another chance for us to rely on the grace of God. It’s not a time for quitting, but it’s not always about making it up on our own strength. We need to own it- confess it was our wrong without passing blame (1 John 1:9; Genesis 3:12-13); then look to Jesus for forgiveness and guidance. Every failure is an opportunity for us to remember that God is in charge, He loves us, and is more than adequate to help us through our shortcomings.

I will endeavor to do the things I am suggesting to you, so that you can do as I do, not just as I say. In Matthew, Jesus tells the people that they should listen to the Scribes and Pharisees as their place of authority requires, but not to be like them (Matthew 23:1-36). Meanwhile, James says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James‬ ‭1:22-25). I don’t know about you, but I want to make efforts that are blessed. Let’s try to get out there and heed the good advice we receive and then put it into practice.