1 Corinthians 4:16 “Therefore I urge you to imitate me.”
Whenever the house is silent, I start wondering what is happening. Three children under the age of six are never quiet unless they are doing something terrible. Well, one day, I heard nothing. Silence. I started to stand up to assess whatever damage was being done. Then, I heard giggles. My two oldest, ages five and three, were toddling down the hallway wearing my wife’s and my boots. Every step was a struggle. They swayed, they tripped, they fell. But they were so excited to wear our boots. Children love imitating their parents. They enjoy wearing their shoes and their clothes. They enjoy pretending to be parents to their toys or their younger siblings. As the child grows, this imitation grows as well. Instead of imitating out of enjoyment, a child imitates without thinking. They will naturally imitate our words and our habits. Unfortunately, they seem to pick up the bad things we do much easier than the good things we do. Jesus told his disciples, “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 18:3). Jesus’ statement refers to our humility, faith, and simplicity. But, it also refers to how we view Him. As children, we should love to imitate Jesus. We should love to pretend to be Him and treat those around us with love and respect. We should love to show humility and self-sacrifice because He did. We should love to speak in ways that reflect Him, instead of our depravity. As we try to imitate him, we will be like a little kid toddling down the hallway: swaying, tripping, and falling. We do not easily wear His shoes. But, when we fall, Jesus helps us get up and encourages us to keep trying. Hopefully, as we grow in spiritual maturity, we will imitate Jesus without thinking because we have spent so much time trying to imitate Him. We will naturally imitate Him in our words and our habits. Thankfully, because Jesus was perfect, we will not pick up any bad habits from Him. One day, after spending our lives trying to imitate Jesus, we can turn to someone younger and urge them to join us in imitating Jesus. We can give them strength and encouragement. That, too, is imitating Jesus.
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Peter SamplePastor of Calvary Bible Church, Neligh, NE. Missionary with RHMA. Husband to Maggie. Father to Grace, David, and Daniel. Saved by Jesus Christ Archives
April 2023
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