One leadership axiom states, “People are doing as well as they know how to do.”
That is, if you see someone doing something poorly (or even wrong), first assume that no one has ever trained them how to correctly do the job in question. This is true in most areas of our lives.
Most of us don’t mean to be bad parents. We’re just being the best parents we know how to be. We don’t mean to be lousy spouses. We’re just doing the best we know how to do. And most of us don’t intend to be such shallow followers of Christ. We just don’t know how to do any better.
Throughout his letters, Paul encouraged the early Christians to follow his example. “Imitate me as I imitate Christ,” he’d tell the Philippians.
I used to think this was an arrogant statement until I became a parent. Then I recognized Paul’s teaching in the countless times I told my boys, “Do it this way.”
A lot of our friends—both believers and non-believers—simply don’t know there’s a different way to live. They have to see the difference before they can believe the difference. That means they’ll be looking for people who are living the way they want to live.
And that’s one reason Christ gave us the church—so people could see the difference Jesus makes, so that people could know, “You don’t have to live this way…”
