“你们效法了我们，也效法了主，在大患难中，带着圣灵的喜乐接受了真道。”
帖撒罗尼迦前书 1:6
“You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit,”
1 Thessalonians 1:6
“Today we’re going to play a game called Imitation,” the children’s minister told the kids gathered around him for the children’s sermon. “I’ll name something and you act out what it does. Ready? Chicken!” The kids flapped their arms, cackled, and crowed. Next it was elephant, then football player, and then ballerina. The last one was Jesus. While many of the children hesitated, one six-year-old with a big smile on his face immediately threw his arms wide open in welcome. The congregation applauded.
How easily we forget that our calling is to be like Jesus in the everyday situations of life. “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:1–2).
The apostle Paul commended the followers of Jesus in Thessalonica for the outward demonstration of their faith in difficult circumstances. “You became imitators of us and of the Lord,” Paul wrote. “And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia” (1 Thess. 1:6–7).
It is the life of Jesus in us that encourages and enables us to walk through this world as He did—with the good news of God’s love and with arms open wide in welcome to all.
Lord Jesus,
may Your words of invitation and welcome, “Come to Me,” be lived out through our lives.
Jesus’s arms of welcome are always open.
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