“Follow me, as I follow.” It is interesting isn’t it, that the best of leaders tend to be the best of followers.

Paul’s invitation language makes something clear. His offer to model the faith for the “Christ-disciple wannabe” is a statement issuing straight from humility, not arrogance. After all, this man Paul is the ferocious Jesus-hating ‘Saul of Tarsus’ of yesteryear. His resume reads, “Paul the worst of sinners.”* — The Difference Jesus Makes

Saul of Tarsus had met the Master of masters. Furthermore, added to his dramatic life-altering collision with God in Christ on the Damascus Road, the former homicidal pharisee had plunged into the deep end of Christ-centered discipleship. With Paul, as with the other apostles (Peter, James and the rest), he stayed fixed in apprentice mode under the direct tutelage of his savior, the Lord Jesus. So that now, by the time some believers in Corinth could get the invitation to “follow me as I follow Christ.** Paul the trainee had become well-suited to train. We might almost say Paul had been “newly credentialed.”

While continuing to strive toward Christlikeness himself (“that I may know him”***) the humble church-planter could speak from his established identity in the Lord. We sometimes hear “the phrase, “Cut him and he bleeds…” For the Apostle Paul we might finish the sentence with “… mentoring, instructing, guiding, modeling Christ.” Electrician apprentices (when intentional in their mindset) get transformed into electricians. Most French language understudies who seriously engage the process advance in time to become easy conversationalists, even in Paris.

Whether a person is Italian Tenor Adrea Bocelli or Kansas City Chief ’s Patrick Mahomes, or Okmulgee’s Dustbowl-escapee-turned-Journeyman Plumber Clyde Lout. Each of them is marked by an indispensable feature … summed up in a word.

Intention.

*1 Timothy 1:15 **1 Corinthians 11:1 ***Philippians 3:10

– ©2025 Jerry Lout Writer/Speaker Jerry Lout grew up in Okmulgee County. Jerry’s “Living with a Limp” and “Giants in the Rough” are available through Amazon. Current projects include “Inside-Out” and “Thresholds” – a string of narratives highlighting surprises, sorrows and adventure in the post-Africa years. Jerry welcomes reader comments at jerrylout@ gmail.com and 918-857-4373.