Following a Perfect Example

There are presented in Scripture men of whom there is not recorded one sin that is attached to them. Of Abel, the first child of God to be murdered, not one sin is mentioned. Enoch walked with God and was taken up into heaven without death. Of him likewise we read of not one sin. But we may be sure that these men did sin. For all men are conceived and born in sin. And it would be very sinful on our part to say that we never sinned.

There is, however, One Who never sinned: our Lord, Jesus Christ, Who walked in perfect love toward God from birth until His death and ascension up into heaven. That is why Paul exhorts us and says, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5 ). He adds, "Who being in the form of God, thought not the robbery to be equal with God." That is a better translation and explains what kind of mind we should have.

Adam and Eve sinned when they thought of robbing God of His unique and sovereign divinity. Satan deceived them into believing that they could be like Him. But Christ in His human nature never once had even the desire, or thought in His mind, that His human nature should be equal with God.

What an example for us! What a blessed mind to have! No wonder that Paul says to us, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Plainly it means that we think only of being God's friend-servants, His children completely dependent upon Him and called to serve Him in love. It means that we think not only that it is right but also wise to do His will, and that we love to do His will. It means that we say to Satan, "Get thee behind me!"

If we do that, we will do nothing through strife or vainglory. We will look at the things of other believing children of God and do all we can to help them live in love to God, confessing Him to be God alone, and walking in love to Him as God alone. We will set our faces toward God in love, as Christ did, and in that love seek the well-being of His entire church. We will seek to glorify God and not try to take glory from Him.

Read: Matthew 11:20-30

Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Jeremiah 19 ; Jeremiah 20 ; Jeremiah 21:1-14 
1 Thessalonians 5:4-28 
Psalm 82:1-8 
Proverbs 25:9-10 
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Quote for Reflection:

Herman Hoeksema:

Our immediate concern is ... with those who , while they loudly and emphatically proclaim that ‘Jesus saves,’ yet deprive Him of all power to save unless the sinner gives his consent. This is a great evil, and a very general and prevalent one in our day, all the more dangerous because those that thus preach Jesus ostensibly emphasize strongly exactly that which they, nevertheless deny: that Jesus saves. The name of Jesus is on the lips of many a preacher today, who, nevertheless, proclaims a Jesus that is impotent to save ... For they do not mean that Jesus actually saves, but that He is willing to save provided the sinner gives his consent, will let himself be saved by Jesus; if not, their Jesus is powerless to save. In other words, they do not find in their Jesus absolutely all things necessary to save a sinner, and that, too, not a willing, but an unwilling sinner that is dead through trespasses and sins. And, therefore, it is not only proper, but urgently necessary for the church that prizes and would preserve the truth as it is in Christ, to emphasize that Christ is a complete, a perfect and only Saviour, and that He is not only willing, but powerful to save even unto the end. His name is called Jesus, ‘because he shall save His people from their sins.’

The Triple Knowledge, p. 454