Follow the Great Exemplar

In describing His earthly mission, Jesus declared, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives; and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18, 19).

Are we so closely assimilated to Christ that we can represent His work and follow His example? His work gave character to His mission, showing that it was of divine appointment. In His every word and act were revealed tender compassion, love, and mercy. The poorest and humblest were not afraid to approach Him. He always noticed the little children, and they were attracted to Him.

Our Saviour’s words were plain and decided. He did not suppress one word of truth, but spoke the truth with convincing earnestness. And as He spoke, the desponding drew nearer, and were filled with hope and courage. He was the Prince of heaven. He never spoke a word to give needless pain to any trembling, sensitive soul. He looked with sorrow upon those who rejected Him and made light of His words, and said, “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40).

Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. His life on this earth was one of self-denial. He comforted and encouraged everyone who came to Him for relief, for they were all precious in His eyes. He ever bore Himself with divine dignity, yet He bowed Himself with tender regard to every member of the Lord’s family. He came to stand at the head of humanity, to give all who believe on Him power to become the sons and daughters of God. Such is the example we are to follow. If it were followed, the enemy would not receive so large a share of attention and honor as he now receives from those who profess to be followers of Christ, but who in reality are following satanic wiles. God sent His Son into the world that those who believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. His followers are to show the strictest honesty, justice, and integrity in their every transaction.

Let the work begin sincerely, through reconversion and transformation of character.—Manuscript 53, May 11, 1905, “Unto Seventy Times Seven.”

The Upward Look p. 145
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Susan… knee replacement surgery today and they can’t get a handle on the pain. Sylvia
—-please pray my husband Ray. He was unresponsive this morning I could not wake him up . Please pray he makes back to us. Linda
—-Please pray for Josh protection. he is 18 years old. His mum left him by himself. He is far away from us. And the guys living in the shared house is starting to pick on him. They are Muslims from the middle east he is the only Christian there from the Caribbean. Rosemary
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Dear Friends
When we lived by the Tennessee river, Ron and Eileen decided to float on inner tubes down to his brother Dennis’ house about a mile away. At least by road it was a mile. By river, it was five miles! They kept watching the bank and nothing looked familiar. Ron was beginning to worry. Finally a fisherman came by and gave them a ride to their destination. When fisherman told him how far it was, Ron was very glad that he had picked them up.
Meanwhile, I was at home doing some housework. Several hours went by and I was beginning to wish I had gone with them. We lived on a steep hill and it was quite far down to the river, at least in my condition it seemed far. I was very pregnant with Ronnie Jay and he was pressing on my back in such a way that I could barely move my legs. Walking was very difficult. Finally, I decided to attempt to get down to the water, take the remaining inner tube, and float down to Dennis’ too. Of course, I thought it would be a short trip since I knew it was only a mile away by the road.
I managed to slip and slide down to the river and clumsily get on the inner tube. That was not an easy task in my condition. As I floated along, the current was carrying me a little farther from the bank than I wanted it to. That worried me a little. With my legs not working very well, and my position on the tube was such that only my hands reaching the water, how would I get back to the bank when I reached Dennis’ house? When I was about a fourth of a mile from home, I became aware of a far more serious problem. That inner tube was not as full of air as it had been when I first got on. Now I was getting scared! I knew I could easily drown in the strong current! I began to pray and tried with all my might to get to shore.
God answered my prayer. At that very moment, Ron and Eileen had returned home by the road. He looked everywhere for me. With a sinking heart, he realized what I had done. Quickly, he ran down the hill to the river and looked downstream. In the distance he saw me. He let out a shout and I looked back from my now-very-squishy inner tube. As you can imagine, I was delighted to see him.
Instructing our little girl not to get into the water, Ron jumped into the river and swam faster than I had ever seen him swim. He grabbed my inner tube and began pulling me upstream to safety. In less than 24 hours, Ronnie Jay was born.
How easy it is to get ourselves into big trouble without thinking of consequences. How often we are careless and become entangled in a situation where we are in danger and helpless to free ourselves. We need Someone to help us just as much as I needed Ron to pull me back home. Our Great Redeemer bids us, “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” Ps 50:15 “The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.” Ps 34:17-19
He is our Redeemer, our Strength, a very Present Help in trouble. He sees our trials and knows our situation just as if we were the only person in the world. He brings to us deliverance. He provides a way out of our troubles. “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” 1 Cor 10:13
What a Wonderful Saviour we serve! How great and good He is! May we come to Him now with all our worries, all our cares. May we ask Him to untangle the threads of our tangled lives. May we trust Him completely with our very lives is my prayer.
Rose