Imitating Jesus

The apostle Paul urges us to be imitators of God, our heavenly Father. But how are we to imitate a God we cannot see? Are we to dress like Jesus' dressed, or does this admonition go much deeper?

What's at the heart of this

Quite simply, the goal of every Christian is to become more Christ like-after all, the very word "Christian" denotes "a Christ follower."

Paul tells us

Ephesians 5:1

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.

We should heed his exhortation and earnestly desire to be like Jesus in every way.

Paul also writes

1 Corinthians 11:1

And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.

When I think about this, I wonder exactly what Paul meant by "imitate." Does this mean that we should wear the same style toga and sandals that Jesus wore? Does this mean we should only eat kosher foods?

Probably not.

In fact, I think it is obvious that Paul is speaking about following Jesus'example in terms of his mission, values, motivation, priorities, thinking, teaching, and attitude.

In other words, being imitators of Christ is something that stems from your heart our inner being. This occurs when who we are on the inside begins to be transformed as we become more like him and have his heart and mind. The internal change in turn is reflected in the way we speak, think, and act.

The crucial component we need to understand is that imitating Christ begins with developing a strong spiritual heart to all around us. If we simply try to imitate Christ's external behaviour-being kind, compassionate, and merciful without strengthening our spiritual inner being -then we risk missing out on the very process that makes us Christ like. We end up acting like a Christian sometimes, but not truly being a Christian at all times.

Think about Jesus: His actions stemmed from who he was. The doing part flowed naturally from Jesus being authentically Jesus. This being stemmed from his heart . In other words, Jesus did not try to act like anything he was not. Therefore, if we are to be imitators of Christ, we need to stop trying to act like Christians (external actions) we should instead focus on being a Christian from our hearts (internal transformation). When this becomes our focus, we will discover that it's not difficult to act like a Christian, because we simply will be one. Period.

A very nice tale that someone told me many years ago goes like this and I have used this analogy on many ocasions.

A sculptor was busy with a hammer and a chisel chipping away when a little boy came up to him and asked the question. "Excuse me mister, what are you doing?" The sculptor replied "I am making a sculpture of a horse" The little boy asked again "how do you know what a horse looks like and where do start chopping on a big rock like that?" The sculptor then replied once again "I chop off all the pieces from the rock that does not look like a horse"

We as Christians should remove or "chop off" anything and everything that does not resemble Jesus in our lives, in order to start looking and acting like Him.Quite simply, as I mentioned in my second paragraph above, "The goal of every Christian is to become more Christ like"

Point to Ponder

It's easy to act like a Christian when you are at church. But who are you for the rest of the week? Has your encounter with Christ transformed your heart? Do you know that God wants to be actively involved in every aspect of your life?