When Your Life Becomes the Lesson

Welcome to another beautiful week. I trust September has been lovely so far even as we prepare to draw the curtains on this month.

"Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ" 1Cor. 11:1

It is indeed a tall ask for someone to follow you.

Because I know, inherently, we are all so aware of our flaws, our failings and our areas of shortcomings.

And then you look at your children and there are a number of things that they do that just tick you off. Then if you pause and think about it, you might just realise that you are also guilty of that. And that the finger you pointed at them is actually pointing four times back at you.

That is, of course, after you have calmed down from being upset and frustrated with that behaviour. 😅

Jesus, our ultimate example, said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

He didn’t just say, “Listen to what I say.”

Follow me literally means: model after my life.

And then He gave the command: go into the world and make disciples.

So we also are meant to help others follow us.

What a tall order!

I guess with Jesus, you might say it should have been easy. He is the Son of God. He is blameless. He is perfect.

But why is He telling me to do the same?

Then again, I am reminded of the Scripture that says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” 2 Cor 12:9 HCSB

Maybe discipleship calls us higher.

Not to hypocrisy—doing things simply because others are looking at us—but to recognising that our lives impact people, not just our words and what we say.

And perhaps that is one of the reasons mentorship can be so powerful.

This week episode on Reframe Her Worth, is with a guest, Dr Omolola Okeowo, a woman who truly understands what it means to be mentored. Her perspective made me think again about what mentorship really is.

She said:

It is not simply: I really like this person or I really admire this person.

It is recognising someone whose life carries a picture of the woman you are becoming—or the woman you hope to become and following tenaciously.

Just like the scriptures tell us to "look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth..." but we have read their stories and saw how flawed they are, yet the Lord asks us to look to them - model after them.

For me that also means that when we are the ones being followed, perfection cannot be the prerequisite.

So perhaps the question is not, “Am I perfect enough for someone to follow?”

But: “Is there something in the way I am living that is worth following?”

That question changes a lot. Because whether intentionally or unintentionally, somebody is learning from how we live.

Our children are. People we lead are.

Sometimes even people who admire us from afar are watching us.

So the invitation is not to become flawless (as we are all in the continual process of refinement).

It is to keep becoming.

To keep allowing God to work on our weaknesses.

To live what we say.

And to remember that the goal of mentorship and discipleship is not to create copies of ourselves, but to help people become who God is calling them to be using the example of our lives.

Keep walking. Keep believing. Keep becoming the amazing woman God already sees.

Yours in walking and becoming,

Teim❤️

Host: Reframe Her Worth