Sep 14, 2018
You became imitators
of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe
suffering.... 1Thess 1:6
We are either
imitators of Jesus' word, or imitators of the world.
The Cola wars were decades ago, but their impact still
lingers on. Years ago, when other
companies were trying to diagnose and come up with the “secret formula” for
Coca-Cola, the company chose to market their product with the tag line: The
Real Thing. In spite of efforts to
imitate the taste, Coca-Cola was still the original. When Coke tried changing the taste to create
a new market, it was the “real thing” that people demanded. Imitations are just not the original.
Everyone imitates something, whether it’s someone they
admire or a vision they desire. God knew
that we are designed to imitate something, so He walked with Adam to show him how
to live. When Adam chose to imitate the
world, God provided the 10 Commandments and the Law for men to imitate
righteousness. When men broke that
covenant with God, He used the negative examples of Assyria & Babylon to
call men back to imitating Him. And
finally, God sent Jesus so that we could see what He expects us to imitate in
flesh & bone. Humans are designed to
be imitators, we just need to choose the right thing to imitate.
Paul tells the church in Thessalonica to imitate Paul and
Jesus. Learn what Jesus does and do
that. Watch what Paul does like Jesus,
and follow his example. Be imitators,
but imitate the right things.
Here’s the thing about imitation… by choosing what we
imitate, we also choose what NOT to imitate.
By choosing to imitate Jesus, we will be opposed by Satan. The devil’s only weapon is to attempt to make
us suffer so that we stop imitating Jesus.
The answer is not to avoid suffering, but continue to imitate Jesus
THROUGH the suffering. By maintaining
our imitation of Christ, God will make us victorious through His power &
grace.
Take a look today at what you are really imitating. Is it a person? A system?
A vision? An ideal? Does what you’re imitating match Jesus, or
match the world? Choose carefully what
you are imitating, and maintain course when tested in your faith.
We are either imitators of Jesus’ word, or we’ll become
imitators of the world.
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