The Bible says we should follow God’s example. That makes sense, because God is perfect, and everything he does is right. God is love, and we should walk in the way of love. We should be holy as God is holy, and perfect as he is perfect. We should speak the way God would speak. We should think like Jesus and follow his ways.

Paul taught his followers to transform themselves and become like God, because God wants his people to become like him. Paul followed Jesus’s example, and we should follow Paul’s example, so that we end up following Jesus’s example too.

How can we follow God’s example, though? I mean, if we can’t see God, how can we know what kinds of things he does, so that we can do the same? We can find out what God does by reading stories about God in the Bible. That includes stories about Jesus, since according to the Bible, Jesus is God.

So, here are some things we should do in order to follow God’s example, according to the stories about God in the Bible:

• We should be perfect.
• We should tell people to obey God’s laws.
• We should tell people Jesus is the Messiah.
• We should observe the Sabbath.
• We should be wise.
• We should try to keep our lives.
• We should show everyone how good we are.
• We should keep our good deeds secret.
• We should perform supernatural signs and wonders.
• We should pray so others can hear us.
• We should only pray for those who are close to us.
• We should receive good things.
• We should refrain from stoning people if we are without sin.
• We should let foreigners enter holy places.

• We should take oaths.
• We should eat and drink excessively.
• We should celebrate.
• We should roar.
• We should be easily angered.
• We should be impatient.¹
• We should be proud.
• We should be jealous.
• We should be hateful.
• We should cause chaos.
• We should argue.

• We should call people fools.
• We should judge and condemn people.
• We should judge those who are outside the church.
• We should disrespect our parents.
• We should refuse to listen to people.
• We should refuse to forgive people who curse us.
• We should curse people.
• We should lie.
• We should bring charges against people.
• We should accuse people when they have done us no harm.²

• We should be late.
• We should desert our flock.
• We should scatter God’s people.
• We should drive away God’s people.
• We should take retribution.
• We should punish people for the sins of their ancestors.
• We should refuse to help those in need.
• We should heavily burden people.
• We should unnecessarily delay doing good to others.
• We should make people stumble.
• We should steal our neighbors’ land.
• We should return runaway slaves to their masters.

• We should get married.
• We should be married to two sisters at the same time.
• We should impregnate other people’s fiancées.
• We should impregnate our mothers.
• We should marry our daughters.³
• We should hate our wives and treat them harshly.
• We should get divorced.

• We should be violent.
• We should destroy fruit trees.
• We should be quick to destroy fig trees that aren’t fruitful.
• We should sacrifice on the mountains.
• We should harm foreigners.
• We should harm Edomites.
• We should harm Moabites.
• We should harm our enemies.
• We should harm our neighbors.
• We should plot harm against those who trust us.
• We should murder people.
• We should shed blood on a bare rock.
• We should sacrifice our children.
• We should besiege David’s city.
• We should kill the Lord’s anointed king.
• We should kill people and take their land.
• We should destroy unwelcoming towns with fire from heaven.
• We should destroy the earth.

• We should call men fathers.
• We should make images of things in heaven.
• We should work on the Sabbath.
• We should change God’s commands.
• We should reject Jesus.
• We should betray Jesus.
• We should call ourselves gods.

…Wait a minute. Those are all things the Bible says we shouldn’t do!