YOUR ROLE MODEL VS THE RIGHT ROLE MODEL

We live in a world where people who call themselves children of God have as role model secular celebrities living openly in outright rebellion against God who they call their Father. And so one begins to wonder if these people calling themselves children of God are indeed children of God, and if they are, do they really understand and know their Heavenly Father’s will and heart desires? Do they really seek to do what pleases their Father? Do they desire to honor their Father? Therefore God Himself asks “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am your father, where is the honor due me? If I am your master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty.” Malachi 1:6a 

These secular celebrities many who call themselves children of God have as role model (someone they look up to, copy their lifestyle, imitate their style of dressing, take counsel from, get their life philosophy from… ) smoke, take drugs, drink, club and engage in all sorts of immorality - openly and privately. Their women dress to look sexually appealing - to seduce and elicit sexual passion in men. They practice cohabitation and encourage it by flaunting it. They practice sex before marriage and commonise it. They take pride in pregnancy out of wedlock and show it off. They divorce whenever they feel like. These secular celebrities publicly celebrate immorality with great pleasure; and all these they do is clearly against the will of God as revealed in the Bible. Yet many who call themselves children of God look up to these celebrities, learning how to live life from them, and justify their action with the excuse that “we are all children of God” or “we are all sinners; no one is righteous and without sin.”

If you have this excuse to justify your action as someone claiming to be a child of God, please pay attention to what God’s word says in 1 John 3:10 “So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers isn't God's child.” This scripture unambiguously shows you that we have two categories of people on earth: those who are children of God and those who are children of the devil (even though no one wants to acknowledge that they are children of the devil). It is a reality. It is the truth, regardless of any man’s opinion. 1 John 3:8a reinforces this truth by saying “The person who lives a sinful life belongs to the devil, because the devil has been committing sin since the beginning.” Even if you call yourself a child of God when you are really not one, it does not make you a child of God; because you are not a child of God simply because you say you are, you are a child of God because you live righteously and love others as 1 John 3:10 says. Whoever therefore is not a child of God is a child of the devil sad to say, but the truth has to be told. It is not a word of condemnation, but a word of truth for you to accept, believe and genuinely become a child of God.

To become a child of God, John 1:12 says you should do this, “But as many as received Him (Christ Jesus), to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,”
Now if you have done this and are now a child of God, God expects that you emulate Him by adhering to what He has said, instructed and commanded in His Word. In Ephesians 5:1, the Holy Spirit instructs, “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.” Good News Translation puts it this way “Since you are God's dear children, you must try to be like him.” Child of God, are you trying to be like God your Father?

God becomes your role model the moment you become a child of His. His word - the Holy Bible, becomes your standard for judging right and wrong. His Holy Spirit becomes your Teacher, Counselor and Advisor. The question then is, now that you have become a child of God, how yielded are you to the Holy Spirit? How obedient are you to His counsel? How submitted are you to God's word, letting it determine your speech and actions per time? How loyal are you to God as your role model?

Many people, after accepting Jesus into their life, still go back to living the sinful life they were living before accepting Jesus. No! It ought not to be so! Jesus lived a righteous life. If you have accepted Him into your life, righteous living is then expected of you - because you are no more a sinner; you have become righteous. This is why 1 John 3:9 says thus “Those who are children of God do not continue to sin, for God's very nature is in them; and because God is their Father, they cannot continue to sin.” As a righteous person, you are now required to live righteously. But living a righteous life does not happen without you doing nothing. You don't just pray to live righteously and then sit back and do nothing. Ephesians 4:22-24 tells you what to do, it says "Put off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Holy Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy." You must on your own put off your old sinful way of living, and put on your new righteous nature. You must consciously and deliberately put the grace of God given to you to work by allowing the word of God change your philosophy about life, renew your mindset, transform your thinking, change your values and beliefs, and give you holy desires. You also must yield to the leadership and tutelage of the Holy Spirit living in you and pray without ceasing- that is the way to live a new life (a righteous life) after accepting Jesus.

Have you accepted Jesus yet? Have you become a child of God? Is God your role model? Is the word of God your standard for determining right and wrong, good and evil, or the society? Are you submitted to the leading and counsel of the Holy Spirit? Questions for you to reflect upon.

Final word: God's word says that the first shall be the last and the last shall be the first (Matthew 20:16). Child of God, this means that some of these secular celebrities you are allowing the devil to use today to influence you into sinful living will someday surrender their life to Jesus by the mercy and grace of God, mostly without your awareness, and die in Christ and be welcomed into heaven; while you, a professing child of God, who became born again long time ago, but refused to live righteously, will die in sin and miss eternity with Christ. God forbid! Don't be deceived! Don’t be a victim! Be wise and listen to the voice of wisdom today.
“Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the LORD. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.” 2 Corinthians 6:17

God bless you as you do the right thing today.