Imitation

 Students today at TCA dressed up like their favorite teacher or coach. It was pretty funny to see how some of those students nailed characteristics of certain coaches. From hats, shirts, shoes, whistles, and even one kid carried snacks in his pocket because Coach Myers always has snacks in his pocket. It has been pretty funny. 

The teachers even dressed like students in school uniforms. Some even wearing the skirts the girls are required to wear. A fun way to pass the day toward the end of school. 

One student came in the coaches' office dressed in shorts and a hoodie. When asked who he was imitating he said no one. He had dressed as himself. I loved that. 

In a world where many are trying to imitate others in wardrobe, speech, hair styles, and lifestyles, it is refreshing to see some people have the confidence and courage to be who God designed them to be. These are people who are comfortable in their own skin. They are not trying to be someone they are not. 

There is one we should imitate. It is Jesus. We should love like He loved. To live as He lived. To demonstrate compassion the way He demonstrated compassion. To rebuke those Jesus would rebuke. To forgive those Jesus forgives. To embrace people like Jesus embraces. To extend grace the way Jesus extends grace. To be perfectly honest, no matter how hard we try, we are not able to match up. Not in the power of our ability. Jesus is perfect. We are imperfect. We can only imitate Jesus as we yield to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to work in and through us to manifest the life of Jesus through us. 

I used to see my children dress up to imitate whatever they had been watching recently. They donned football apparel, cowboy hats and boots, capes of Superman, Batman and O yes, don't forget Bibleman. Never heard of Bibleman. Look him up. My sons grew up loving those shows. They were so impressionable. 

Are we impressionable as adults. We sure are. Many times culture shapes much of what we do, buy, wear, and speak. For all the time some of us spend in worship and Bible study you would think we would all imitate Jesus more. I hear self-professing Christians use profanity quite frequently. What is worse is they are not even aware they are doing it. Sometimes they say such things in the house of God without even realizing what they say. More than one person has been shamed and brought shame on the church for imitating worldly morality standards. True followers of Jesus should resemble Jesus. Outsiders of the faith should notice something different about those who claim to be disciples of Jesus. 

I have even been guilty of trying to imitate the lives of great historical figures from the past. Mainly preachers and prayer warriors. I fail every time. I just cannot do the same things they did and get the same results. God did not create me to be Jonathan Edwards, George Mueller, or D.L. Moody. He designed me to be Matt. To be more specific, to be Matt yielded to the Spirit to become increasingly more like Jesus. That is the only one all of us should want to imitate.