The Ultimate Role Model
One of the greatest personal conflicts I find is having a role model. While I firmly believe that it is imperative to have personal aspirations, I'm undecided as to the whole modelling-my-life-after-somebody-else's thing. There are a great many people in the world that I admire immensely, for a range of reasons, and there many of those that I might consider 'role models', as it were. I wish I could make a difference in the world like Mother Teresa, or Martin Luther King Jr.- but do I consider them role models? I greatly aspire to have a faith as ardent and consuming as the faith I see in my favourite teacher, or the beautiful religious sisters I met on retreat- but do I consider them to be role models?
Every human person is shadowed by sin, doubt, fear and unfaithfulness countless times in our lives. However pious and holy a life we live, we're never going to be able to escape original sin, nor the temptation of the devil to turn away from God. We have been born flawed, imperfect and impure. Inside each and every one of us is the capability and the desire to sin. How can we possibly wish to model ourselves after another human person if they too are imperfect? Therefore, we should aspire beyond humanity. You're probably anticipating where I'm going with this, which would be to say that God, and our Lord Jesus are the perfect role model, therefore we should live to glorify and reflect them in all that we do. And while that is a perfectly delightful notion, and really what we should aspire to, it doesn't sit comfortably in my head. See I know that I am human, and while Jesus did become incarnate and all that jazz, he was still God, and to be honest, aspiring to God, in my mind, is rather daunting.
No, to me, the ultimate role model is the one who was the perfect human expression of faithfulness and love, the one who would say 'yes' to God no matter the cost.
I love Mary. I believe her to be the most pure, holy and loving being ever to exist (sans God, etc.). She said to God: Be it done unto me according to thy word. I cannot find a more perfect affirmation of faith than Mary's noble plea. We should seek, as Mary sought, to accomplish God's will in everything we do, to love God so wholeheartedly that the world cannot help but see that we've said 'yes' to Him. Mary is my ultimate role model. Born free from sin and devoted in her existence to the execution of God's plan for her, I can think of no other more suited to the title of my role model than she. And I can think of no nobler purpose to aspire to than to love God, to accomplish His will and to glorify the Lord by your life.
Every human person is shadowed by sin, doubt, fear and unfaithfulness countless times in our lives. However pious and holy a life we live, we're never going to be able to escape original sin, nor the temptation of the devil to turn away from God. We have been born flawed, imperfect and impure. Inside each and every one of us is the capability and the desire to sin. How can we possibly wish to model ourselves after another human person if they too are imperfect? Therefore, we should aspire beyond humanity. You're probably anticipating where I'm going with this, which would be to say that God, and our Lord Jesus are the perfect role model, therefore we should live to glorify and reflect them in all that we do. And while that is a perfectly delightful notion, and really what we should aspire to, it doesn't sit comfortably in my head. See I know that I am human, and while Jesus did become incarnate and all that jazz, he was still God, and to be honest, aspiring to God, in my mind, is rather daunting.
No, to me, the ultimate role model is the one who was the perfect human expression of faithfulness and love, the one who would say 'yes' to God no matter the cost.I love Mary. I believe her to be the most pure, holy and loving being ever to exist (sans God, etc.). She said to God: Be it done unto me according to thy word. I cannot find a more perfect affirmation of faith than Mary's noble plea. We should seek, as Mary sought, to accomplish God's will in everything we do, to love God so wholeheartedly that the world cannot help but see that we've said 'yes' to Him. Mary is my ultimate role model. Born free from sin and devoted in her existence to the execution of God's plan for her, I can think of no other more suited to the title of my role model than she. And I can think of no nobler purpose to aspire to than to love God, to accomplish His will and to glorify the Lord by your life.
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