Example and Pioneer

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     When I was a little lad attending the village one-room school, we were issued a writing portfolio to encourage our study of penmanship. In addition to the paper with widely spaced lines required by novices, it also contained a heavy cardboard pad with strips of paper at the top, on each of which was printed a line of perfect writing to use as a sample. The student placed the sheet of practice paper with the top line immediately under the example and after copying it, thrust the paper up under it, and brought the next line into the same position. The process was continued until every line of the practice sheet was filled.

     The secret of this system lay in the fact that one always had a perfect example in front of him. He did not copy from his own previous line and thus reproduce or exaggerate its imperfections. As a boy I did not realize this method of teaching was more than two thousand years old. I learned that when I came to know Jesus.

     In 1 Peter 2:21 we are told, "For to this purpose you were called: because Christ also died for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow in his steps." The word "example" means "a copy-head for use in writing instruction."

     The Authentic Version translates: "To this end you were called, for Christ himself suffered on your behalf, leaving you a copy, that you should follow in his traces."

     It is only when we pattern directly after Jesus that we are safe. When we use someone else as the example for our lives we tend to adopt his imperfections. Once, when we were erecting a meetinghouse, the carpenter working on the scaffold asked me to saw a dozen boards to fit the space between the window frame and the door. He marked one as a sample, but instead of using it for all, I used each one in turn to mark the next. By the time I handed up the fourth it would not fit at all, for each time I was gaining the width of the saw blade. God has provided an original pattern in Jesus and each of us should measure our lives by His, not by another for whom we have admiration. He is our Example!

     I have always been thrilled with the stories of pioneers, men who dared to leave home and blaze a trail through the trackless wilderness so others might follow in their steps. This is the very description given of Jesus. In Hebrews 12:2 he is called "the author and finisher of our faith." The word "author" is a translation of archegos.

     This word can mean the point of origin from which a thing proceeds. Thus J. B. Phillips translates it as "Jesus the source and the goal of our faith."

     It can mean the starting-point of an endeavor, and since the context deals with the Christian race, the New English Version has it, "Jesus, on whom faith depends from start to finish."

     But it can also refer to one whom we describe as "breaking the ice" or "blazing the trail." This is how I like to think of Jesus. The world was a jungle of sin and

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a wilderness of wickedness. He left a comfortable abode and plunged into this morass of evil and showed us the way through. He marked the path, put up signs to warn of danger spots, and left encouraging notes along the way for those who falter and are ready to give in or give up. I can think of a dozen such little messages tacked on trees along the road, which have caused me to keep on going when I was tempted to sit down and rest or "throw in the sponge" during the fight.

     That is why my own translation reads: "Run with fierce determination the crosscountry race for which you enrolled, keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus who marked out the trail and finished the course, showing what it means to have real trust in God."