“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.”

In this verse, we are reminded that there are two ways to teach and two ways to learn. God be thanked for the many teachers of the word He has put in our pathway. All the dedicated women who taught us as small children. Those wonderful flannel graph stories are hard to forget, aren’t they? And what about the memory verses we learned. I bet many of you can still quote them. Men and women taught us at Bible Camps, retreats, as well as the Sunday Morning Classroom.

How many preachers’ names can you remember? Any special lesson or lessons that stick in your mind even after all those years? I can remember sitting on the front row when Brother Prevatt would drill us with Bible facts. I remember sermons I heard as a boy and as an adult, and I remember the names of the men who preached them.

Can you name church leaders who taught you by example? Maybe a deacon or an elder who led the class or even spoke from the pulpit but more than that showed by their lives the faith they were teaching. I knew several such men, but Brother Pigg from Oklahoma City stands at the forefront of those memories. He was a living portrayal of the word. To emulate him would be to emulate Christ. What an impression he made on me and what a desire he created in me to be like him. I both remember him and the outcome of his way of life.

Task for Today: Take a few minutes and look back. Make a list of great Bible teachers in your life. Think of those who you wanted to be like, to have their kind of faith and life. Be sure to consider what their life outcome was or is. Now, the application for today: Imitate them. Become a teacher, become a leader, set an example.