Imitating

Devotion for the Week...

I often call the childcare littles by various endearments. Boys are usually Mister Man or Buster and girls are often Chickie or Missy Moo. I hadn't realized just how often I do this until recently.  Rebecca just turned 2 and she's always here a bit earlier than Nora. She gets very excited when Nora arrives in the morning and has started greeting her by yelling a very enthusiastic, "Hello, Missy Moo!" Well, it's not nearly that clear, but you can tell what she's trying to say, lol.

If you've spent any time at all around toddlers, you know that you have to watch what you say because they will repeat everything, especially anything that slips out that you don't want them to hear! Of course, it's not only our words that they repeat. They also imitate everything they see us do and the more regularly we do something, the more likely they will pick up on it. Whether it's pretending to talk on their phone, doing 'homework' at the table with paper and crayons like their older siblings or copying the exercises they see us doing, toddlers are born copycats.

This makes perfect sense, since toddlers are beginning the slow process of learning how to be functioning members of society and we are the models God has given to them. They imitate us to try on various behaviors and learn how to act in different situations. As adults spending time around littles, it's a humbling thought, isn't it?

But what about us adults? The littles in our company don't realize that we don't have everything all figured out, but we sure know it. We're still learning how to behave in different situations, too. Not only that, but sometimes we're trying to behave better in situations that bring out reactions that are less than our best. Fortunately, we have models to follow, too.

Paul understood this and wrote to the Corinthians, "And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1). Paul had spent time living among the Corinthians. They had watched how he lived, how he talked, how he dealt with frustrations and with other people and with himself. They could draw on those memories to figure out how to behave themselves. What people have been part of our lives that we can use as models for our actions and for our words? How did they face frustrations or challenges? How did they react when other people received bad news? Or when others received good news? Imitating people with godly character will help us become more godly ourselves.

Even more than imitating godly people, though, we can imitate God Himself. Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:1-2, "Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ." We won't always get it right, but the more we practice imitating Jesus, the closer we'll get to His character. It's like Rebecca's "Hello, Missy Moo" - the first time she said it, it was so garbled I could hardly pick it out, but as she practices, her words are getting clearer and soon everyone will know what she's saying.

How are we practicing imitating Jesus?