Imitate Me

I heard about a man who desperately wanted to get married. He found a girl he was in love with, and he took her home to meet his parents. But his mother didn’t like her. So he went out and found another girl and brought her home. Still, his mother didn’t like her. Then he found a girl who looked like his mother, talked like his mother, and dressed like his mother. In every way, this girl was just like his mother. Then his father didn’t like her.

Like it or not, people are making evaluations about God according to the way we live as followers of Christ. Being a disciple is walking with Jesus in such a way that you get to say to someone else, “Follow my example.”

I know that we mess up sometimes. But that doesn’t excuse us from being examples. The apostle Paul said, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1 NKJV).

What if the church were filled with people just like you? What if everyone else in the church were exactly like you? What if everyone in the church read the Bible as faithfully as you do? Would we be a Bible studying church?

What if everyone in the church worshipped God just like you do? Would we be a worshipping church?

What if everyone in the church gave of their finances as faithfully as you do? Would we have a supported church?

What if everyone in the church shared the gospel as often as you do? What would the church be like? What if other believers were just like you?

As believers, we should be living godly lives in such a way that we could say, as the apostle Paul did, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”