A Model

The little book titled "Faith" made mention (and then some) of Abraham and Sarah, and how their lives have been ‘a model for the lives of all generations of believers.’ How about a big "wow" over that? Imagine being the person whose life is used as a model for the lives of all generations of believers!

This comment struck me because of the word "model," which is a word that was spoken to me. Sadly, as a group, Christians have abandoned the idea of being models for future generations, because we’ve adopted the attitude that we are part of the last generation on the planet. But who says so? Did God say so? Uhm, no, I don’t think He did. So it’s about time we started thinking in terms of having lives that can be a good model for the generations to come.

Often, when we think of ‘model,’ we think of ‘role model.’ We think of someone who is famous but who still leads a "clean" life. The famous athlete who is still married to his somewhat plain wife, and has four kids, or the movie star who won’t play in dirty movies. I’m not saying those are bad things, by any means. If you’re going to be famous, be famous for doing good stuff!

I think, however, that if I go down in history I’d like to go down in history as someone who loved and was loved by God. As someone who trusted Him and who basked in His tender loving care. I would like to be recorded as someone who knew God.

If that is what I’m aiming for, then my experience must grow, and my recent experience has been a shoulder injury. During the acute stage, it was tentatively called "bicepital tendonitis." Once the inflammation calmed down, it has been guessed at as a rotator cuff injury. It doesn’t matter much what it is, though, because it was doggone painful, and it has inspired me to press on to greater things.

You see, I know God as a provider, and a pretty stinkin’ good one, at that. It is relatively easy for me to trust Him for provision. My life, you might say, is something of a model of receiving God’s provision. What I don’t know, however, is God as my healer. Don’t get me wrong, I know of Him as a healer. But I don’t know Him as my healer. I’ve never experienced Him as my indisputable healer.

But I’ve made up my mind that He is my healer, and I’ve made up my mind that it is right and just for me to know Him as my healer. The only way (unfortunately?) for me to know Him as my healer is for me to have something that needs to be healed, and then to wait for Him to heal it.

So I remind Him every day of what I want, partly because I want to be a good all-around model for future generations.

If this message has been forwarded to you, and you would like to be added to Charissa’s mailing list please send your request to info@charissaschalk.com. Thank you.