As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

When I was in high school playing football, I played defensive tackle. For this area I lived in, the Bay Area in California, it turned out I was pretty good at it. I watched a lot of professional football and tried to model myself after my favorite pro players who played D-line: Fred Dean, Charles Haley, Reggie White, and, later, Cortez Kennedy. I knew they had more years and more advanced training than I did, so I studied them and tried to imitate them and their moves on the field.

In life, we need spiritual mentors. Paul and Silas were mentors to the Bereans. But the Bereans also realized Paul and Silas were still just men, sinners saved by grace. And so they studied the messages they preached to make sure they lined up with scripture.

They loved God so much after converting to follow him, that they cast aside their sinful ways. They then studied the Bible— they searched it relentlessly — to emulate God. And God was, I can tell you, very pleased! They were not part of the “milk toast”, play it safe, “big on talk and short on action” church-goers. No! They ate, slept and breathed the truth of the Bible, so they could be transformed and live it out in boldness.

So who am I emulating today? Who will I relentlessly follow? Will my legacy be one of great power, popularity, or wealth? Will I place my confidence in earthly accomplishments? Or will I study and copy Jesus, and modeling the days of my life after the God of this Universe?

Lord, I am all in! I am holding nothing back. I will not stop running the race you have marked out for me, until my legs are severed from my body. And then, I will get back up and stand, walk, or crawl forward in service to God my Father!