Jesus, Such a Bad Example for Some People
Got your attention? Think about how most people look up to examples in their lives- they choose people that have failed in the same ways they have, thus they can relate to them.
The one going through the divorce wants to talk to the person who has already been through it- not the happily married couple because “they don’t understand.” The drug addict wants to talk to other addicts about “what it feels like” because sober people “don’t know how it feels to twik.” Don’t talk to the person who has always been in shape- they won’t get your pain because they’ve never been obese like you.
Now consider Jesus- he was never an addict, but He is your example for freedom. He was never divorced, but he is your example of marriage (for He is married to the church). He never sinned, but He is the example for all sinners.
I bet you never thought about it that way, right? So would you still listen to Jesus and receive the advice He would give you? Or the apostles?
Take for example something in my personal life—– I consistently have to take classes about the mental health of being a pastor. I have to read story after story of pastors and Christian workers getting burned out and now receive their advice because they are experts. However, when I say I have been in ministry just as long as them, been through just as much, and have never burned out because I follow the example of the Bible, I am brushed off as not being able to relate.
Hmmm… so now I have to be addicted to porn to help someone be free from porn- just so I can understand? So my testimony of being free from porn for over 20 years is just “luck?” And never going to bed angry with my wife is “luck” too? And never having a “dry spell” is because I have an “easy life?” So I now have to sin more to relate more?
How sick have we become that we only want sick doctors bringing us their cures that didn’t even work for them? God have mercy… I want to learn how to not get a divorce from someone who has never had one! I want to learn how not to have breakdowns from those who never had them! I want to learn from the winners, not the losers!
I am not saying our trials cannot help others, but the trial itself is not what makes you fit to help- it is what you WISELY gained from the trial. And, some people, can have the same WISDOM without ever going through the trial (like Jesus, the apostles, and other wise Christians).
I went through many things just to come out on the other side having gained what other WISE PEOPLE had already been given by God because they studied and obeyed His Word!
BOTTOM LINE: Let Jesus be your example, and stop following blind guides… you don’t need to sin or fail to understand how it feels. Wisdom teaches us how to weigh the consequences before the action and learn to avoid them. And if you have been through failures, make Jesus the example, not your failures!