Today is Madeline's 5th birthday. Where does time go? In honor of her, I am posting this article I wrote about 4 years ago. Happy Birthday, Maddy! I love you!!
I spend quite a bit of time these days with a very verbal one-year-old child. She makes me laugh with the faces she makes and she amazes me with how many words she already has at her disposal. But maybe what is most fascinating about her is her ability to watch everything that is said and done and her desire to imitate everything she hears and sees. It gets funny when you’re talking to her and the last part of every sentence is repeated with a question mark at the end.
“Let’s go upstairs.” “Up?” “What do you want for lunch?” “Lunch?” “It sure is a pretty day outside!” “Side?”
Clap your hands and she will clap her hands. Sigh and she will sigh. Laugh and she will laugh. Cough and she will cough. Her parents, who waited longer than most to have a child, laugh because when they pick her up, she starts to grunt and groan like they do. Well, you get the idea.
I often think how deeply God has implanted this art of imitation in each one of us. It is there when we are babies because it is how we learn . . . to talk, walk, laugh, think, simply to be. But it does not go away once we have learned these things. Peer pressure throughout our teen years is all about imitating those around us. Even as adults, we long to fit in . . . to belong . . . to be like everyone else.
I believe that God intentionally made us like this. His desire for us is to be imitators. The question becomes, “Who are we to imitate?” The apostle Paul was quite clear in his letters. In Ephesians 5:1-2 he says, “Follow God's example in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love for others, following the example of Christ, who loved you and gave himself as a sacrifice to take away your sins. In his letter to the Philippians we find these words, “Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had.” (2:5)
God sent us Jesus Christ to be the payment for our sins. He was the ultimate and perfect sacrifice that would take away the sins of the world by His blood. But God has a way of doing things in such a way that there are added benefits along with the “main thing.” In the case of Jesus, He not only takes away our sins, but also gives us the perfect example of how to live our lives. He longs to redeem us in this life, as well as in the next.
“What would Jesus do?” is not just a question on a bracelet to make us feel that we somehow identify with Christ. It should be the guiding principle of every person who has chosen to surrender their lives to Him. The only way I have found to practically live out imitating Christ, is by consistently reading about His life in His Word. It is only in reading about the way He lived His days that I can make the decisions for my own life that best reflect Him. There is supernatural power in following His example of getting away from everything to spend time with the Father, in fasting, in leading others into a relationship with God.
Just like small children who watch and learn everything they need to know, we must take the time to observe our perfect role model. Pray for me as I pray for you . . . we can do it together – another example of living like Him!
