One thing you learn pretty quickly as a parent is that your kids are watching everything.
They don’t just repeat the good things you say or copy the things you wish they would copy. They pick up all of it. Your words, your habits, your reactions, even the things you do without thinking.
I remember when our boys were little and we would tell them to go clean their room. They would come back and say it was clean, and then Caryn would have to go check. A lot of times, their definition of clean and hers were not exactly the same.
So she would have to show them. “Here’s what clean means. Here’s what this looks like.”
That is the power of an example.
And I think Jesus knew we would need that too. It is one thing to hear an instruction... It is another thing to see it lived out in front of you.
John 13:14-15 says, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
That is helpful to me, because sometimes I can read something in Scripture and wonder what it is supposed to look like in real life. Then I can look at Jesus. He gave us the example.
So if I want to know how to walk this life out, I don't have to guess. I can keep looking at Him and ask the Holy Spirit to help me follow what Jesus has already shown me.