MODEL IT!

‘America’s Next Top Model’ aired for many seasons and attracted a global audience.

If you google “runway models”, the greatest of all times will pop up and you can view them.

If you look up “how to model” you will be given tip after tip of how to walk, pose and stand.

The one thing they all have in common is, “look straight ahead with a blank stare and expressionless look on your face.”

We have one week left to live and I’m talking about modeling!

Yes, as a matter of fact I am, but not the kind of modeling described up above. Not the kind of modeling that probably pops into our head the minute we hear the word, “MODEL.”

I am referring to the kind of modeling Jesus Himself did for us.

As the days of Jesus’s life here on earth were quickly drawing to a close, He loved others!

He spent precious final moments of His last week on earth, teaching any and all who would listen, how we should live.
He summed up the basis of all the lessons He taught in two powerful verses that leave us with what is most important in our lives here on earth:

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important, Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.”  Mark 12:30-31

Jesus uses bold, direct language here to clearly state that loving God and loving others is the most important purpose of our lives.

…and then He models it!
Not down a “runway” at a fashion  show, but on the stage of life!

As His final week of life on earth draws to a close, He gathers together with His disciples for the Passover Supper.  There He models the scripture to
“…love your neighbor as yourself…”
in it’s truest, most humble sense.  Being sent from God and having been given all authority from God over everything, (John 13:3), He assumed the lowest position of all, and washed His disciples feet.

“So He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around His waist, and poured water into a basin. Then He began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel He had around him.”                                        John 13:4-5

Jesus did not simply “tell” His disciples what to do, He modeled it! He modeled it for them and He modeled it for us!

To model something, is to set an example.

It is defined as “taken to show the character of the whole.”
I love that definition. It brings such depth to it’s meaning. When you model the action and do not simply state it, you are demonstrating character and making it whole!

When we model the behavior of loving others, we set a pattern to be imitated!

TRUTH BOMB

WHEN WE MODEL THE BEHAVIOR OF LOVING OTHERS, WE SET A PATTERN TO BE IMITATED.

That is what Jesus was doing!

It was not until 8 verses later, after He spoke about loving others in greater detail, that He instructed His followers to “model the same behavior.”

“And since I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to was each other’s feet.”                                                                          John 13:14

Jesus was exemplifying His message through His actions. He clearly lead by example and illustrated His message through action.

We should do the same. With one week left to live, I pray I would model the greatest commandment to love my God and to love others in action.

JESUS IS GETTING AWFULLY CLOSE TO THE CROSS. MEET ME BACK HERE NEXT WEEK AS WE TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT HE DOES BEFORE HIS GREATEST CHALLENGE YET!

Much love my friends,

Speak Truth Love