Ongoing Godliness

"You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia." 1 Thessalonians 1:5b-7

Have you ever thrown a stone into a perfectly still pond? Isn’t it amazing how the concentric ripples spread all over the water just because you threw one little stone? The entire pond responds to your action.
I was reminded of that pond and those ripples as I was reading the Bible this morning. In writing to the Thessalonians, Paul reminds them that He (and his traveling partners) had “proven” through their actions to be godly men. And in response to what they saw in Paul’s life and the power of God they witnessed in him, the Thessalonians chose to “imitate” Paul’s faithfulness to Christ...even though they were suffering persecution for their faith. But it doesn’t stop there! As the Thessalonians began to imitate Paul (who was imitating Christ), other believers began to hear of the faith that the Thessalonians had and began to imitate them!
Do you see it? It is as if Jesus is the stone thrown into the pond and Paul is changed by Jesus, and the Thessalonians are changed through Paul, and then neighboring towns are changed through the “example” set by the Thessalonians!! Brothers and sisters, the Gospel works the same way today! God wants to use us to bring about godly change in the lives of others. He wants us to set an example for Christ that is worthy of imitation...I wonder, how you will be an example for God today? How will God use you to “spread the ripples on the water?”