More Than Imitation

"...that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." - Ephesians 4:22-24 (NKJV)

Have you ever seen a T-ball game where there's that one kid who has clearly watched a lot of professional baseball? He's got the sunglasses his hero wears, the name-brand gloves the pros use, the chewing gum, even a certain kind of bat. He imitates his baseball hero right down to the way he spits into his hands before he swings. The whole thing is built on the hope that if I can do what they do, dress like they dress, carry myself the way they carry themselves, maybe I can hit the ball the way the pros hit it. And you have to smile at that.

I gave my life to Christ at 14, and I wanted to imitate the spiritual heroes around me. My dad was one of them. I would watch him pace back and forth while he prayed down in the basement, just walking and praying. So when I started learning how to pray, I paced back and forth too. I didn't know yet that you didn't have to pace. I just knew that's what my spiritual hero did.

I had a pastor who held his Bible a certain way as he walked around on Sunday mornings, and I picked up that habit. People would say, "You even look holy when you hold your Bible like that." It wasn't until I became a preacher myself that I realized why he held it that way. He was holding his place where he was going to begin. That's all it was. Well, I'm not doing it to look holy. I'm just doing it to hold my place in my Bible.

The point is, you can imitate the outward mannerisms of a godly person, but imitation doesn't transform you into the image of Christ. You won't grow into the kind of Christian your spiritual hero is unless you do what that hero did. Unless you spend time in God's Word and allow it to transform your mind. Unless you spend time in God's presence in prayer. Unless you start developing yourself from the inside out.

You see that spiritual hero, patient in the middle of trials that would make someone else completely lose their temper. You see them endure under a heavy burden that would make someone else crumble. You see them walk away from a temptation that would cause others to stumble.

There's a story about a pastor fixing something in his yard when the neighbor kid was just standing at the fence, staring at him. The pastor kept working. Then he hit his thumb with the hammer. While he was shaking it out, he looked up, and the kid was still just watching. The pastor said, "Why are you staring at me?" The kid said, "I just want to know what a preacher says when he hits his thumb."

We are all kind of like tea bags. Different kinds of teabags look the same until you put them in boiling hot water. That's when their true color emerges. Our true colors will emerge, too, when things are hard.

We look at our spiritual heroes and think, "If I just try harder, if I can will myself to be that kind of Christian, then I can get there, too." But you can wish it and will it all you want. If you have not picked up certain godly habits and put off other destructive habits, the best you can hope for is imitation.

There was a kid on a farm whose dad was sitting with the preacher one afternoon. The son came busting through the door, completely oblivious that company was there. He held a dead rat by the tail, excited to show it off. "Dad, look at this rat! I saw him behind the barn, and I hit him over the head with a two-by-four, and then I slammed him against the wall, and then I shoved him into the ground, and then..." He saw the preacher; he paused, and said piously, "And then, Preacher... the Lord called him home." He thought he needed to be pious and religious. God wants more than imitation.

We can pretend to be pious. We can try to be holy. Or we can recognize that a real path to true life change exists. God wants us to be godly and Christ-like. He wants to conform us into the image of Christ. That's more than imitation. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." "Transformed" means changing from the inside out. It doesn't mean just to "look" holy, but to "be" holy.

Reflection question: Are you content just looking holy, or do you want to be holy? What needs to change?

Dear Heavenly Father, I don't want to just look the part. I want to be changed from the inside out, not just cleaned up on the outside. Forgive me for the times I've settled for imitation when You were offering transformation. Today I choose to put off what no longer belongs in my life, and I choose to put on the new man You created me to be. Renew my mind with Your Word. Shape my character and make me the kind of person who reflects You. I trust You to do in me what I cannot do on my own. In Jesus' Name, amen.

Adapted from: The Path to True Life Change (Eph. 4:17-24)