Imitation

   Imitation is the highest form of flattery. So goes the old saying, but is it the best for the person doing the imitating?

   This morning, during our church elder's meeting, our pastor wrote 3 questions on the board.

   1. Is your life worth imitating?

   2. Is your family worth imitating?

   3. Is your community worth imitating?

   That got me to thinking about my life and whether or not it would be worthwhile for anyone to imitate it. Would it draw anyone closer to God, or even put them on the right track to head in that direction?

   It is not all bad, but is it the best? Would the following of my path lead someone to a good place in their life, or would it lead to the best place? Might this imitating hurt their spiritual growth in the long run, because they might settle for a small part of what this Christian life is all about?

   If I step back and look at my life, I see a lot of good things, at least on the outside. There is a pretty consistent time of Bible study and prayer, There is a online journal to record my thoughts and prayers. There are several areas of service to the church, and there are leadership roles in that local body of believers.

   I think of Jesus with His disciples as they follow Him everywhere. They see all the parts of His life, and how he acts and reacts with those around Him, especially those that are out to discredit Him and His teachings. They not only hear words and see actions, they sense attitudes, they feel the tensions. and they would hear the "private" words not meant for public consumption.

   Would I want someone to do that to me? Would I put on my best face and watch all my words and actions; in short, would I be myself, or just be the person that I wanted others to see? A person cannot do that on a full time basis without his life conforming to a standard, and the one on the inside will win out, whatever that one might be. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde won't work here.

   I'm afraid that my life is not worth imitating a lot of the time. My public persona might be OK, but I know my private side, and it is not always pretty.

   God help me to make my total life one worthy of imitation, in Your eyes and the eyes of others.