GOOD EXAMPLES Are You Benefiting From Them?

"YOU came to be an example to all the believers of Macedonia and in Achaia." The apostle Paul wrote these words to faithful Christians living in Thessalonican.  The example they set for fellow believers was truly commendable. Still, the Thessalonians were themselves responding to the example that Paul and his associates had set. Paul said:  "The good news we preach did not turn up among you with speech alone but also with power and with holy spirit and strong conviction, just as you know what sort of men we became to you for you sakes; and you became imitators of us." -1 Thessalonians 1:5-7. 

Yes, Paul did  more than preach sermons. His very life was a sermon-an example of faith, endurance, and self-sacrifice.  Because of this, Paul and his associates came to be a potent influence in the lives of the Thessalonians, moving them to accept the truth "under much tribulation." By no means, though, were Paul and his fellow workers the only positive influence  on those believers.  The example of others who endured tribulation was also an encouragement. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians:  "You became  imitators, brothers, of the congregations of God that are in Judea in union with Christ Jesus, because you also began suffering at the hands of your own countrymen the same things as they also are suffering at the hands of the Jews." -1 Thessalonans 2:14.  

Next time: Christ Jesus-The Foremost Exemplar

From the Watchtower magazine, 2000