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From Father Andrew Bahhi: Being a Role Model for Christ

From Father Andrew Bahhi: Being a Role Model for Christ
July 08, 2018
in The Word
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You come to church, listen to the Holy Liturgy, participate in the hymns, listen to the gospel, receive communion and then hear the sermon. You pray a lot and ask for God. But all that would be worthless if we do not apply that in our life. It is easy to pray in church, receive communion and participate. But the hardest part is taking the communion we receive and make it an action in our life.

If we have Jesus in our life it is because we love him in our heart. When we believe he is the one who can guide us, like him, then our Christian life can be very easy.

To be Christlike, this is what all of Christianity is about. This is what our faith is about. We can say “I believe in Christ,” but on the other side we do bad things. I can be gentle nice and respectful to everyone, then people can receive my faith even when I am not talking.

In Matthew 18:7, it says “Woe to the world because of offenses, for it is necessary that offenses will come, but woe to the man by whom the offenses will come.” If a person is a bad example, woe to him. But on the other hand, Jesus’ life and the disciples life were a model for everyone to be a good Christian. It is not only by name.

We all inherited our faith, which is very good. Because of the faith of our forefathers, we received that faith. But for it to continue, we must continue that faith until we pass it to the next generation.

You need Jesus. Knowingly or unknowingly, we give people bad examples about our father. People need good Christians in the world. Husbands and wives need to be good examples to each other and their children. Children do not go to church because they did not have their parents take them and teach them that in order to be saved they need Jesus. And then the children are lost.

We need to be good examples, for our children, friends, the people around us, the ones we work with. We need to be a good example about our faith and our love to Christ in every single aspect.

“But how can I become a good example?” you ask. I quote St. Paul, “You must follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” The example is to have Jesus in your heart. (Corinthians 11:1)

Jesus is the reason, not just for Christmas, but for all seasons.

A lot of time to be an example, it is beautiful, but to apply it in your actions is hard.

A lot of time we preach to people that we are Christians, Suryoyo, and we speak Jesus’s language – but do people really see Jesus in you? We should not only talk, but we should behave, and apply what the Bible says to each one us. In 1 Peter 2:12, it is said “though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

Your kids are watching you, your wife or husband, your relatives, your neighbors, the people you are working with are all watching you. If you want to be a good Christian, put Jesus in your life and your heart, and you will be able to flow that goodness around everyone around you.

Learn more in Father Andrew’s sermon video here.

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