Yesterday
morning was very difficult for our home church because we had to say goodbye to
one of our young friends after five years of him growing up with us. We were
able to exercise a lot of flexibility so that we could spend as much time with
him as possible, fitting in last minute picture taking, fellowship time,
singing, and sharing one last lunch together.
In the midst
of this busyness, along with the annoyance of losing an hour to the time change,
I was drawn to consider the double-sided meaning of imitation. Paul had told
the Philippians, “join in imitating me.”[1] He
told the Ephesian Christians, “Therefore
be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us
and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”[2]
The only way
we can imitate is by having people to imitate. Imitation cannot begin with us;
it must begin with someone else who is already doing something. We see and
experience what they are doing, and we can then imitate them by doing the same
things.
As I was
pondering the relationship required in imitation (while doing other things to prepare
for our farewell church fellowship), my wife got out a little bottle of
bubble-blowing soap and began blowing bubbles over the place where the children
were playing on the kitchen floor. It took her a few attempts before there were
enough bubbles in the air for them to notice.
The moment the
children saw the bubbles wafting around them, I witnessed a most amazing
picture of imitation. In no time whatsoever, the children wanted to join Fern
in blowing bubbles. They quickly went out to the backyard and spent the next
while blowing bubbles, and enjoying another very special memory with our young
friend.
What this
showed me is what it should be like for us to experience something special at
the initiation of another person, but then feel ourselves drawn into the same
things. When we can do things with the person we are imitating, all the better!
So, when Paul
calls us to join together to imitate him, he has just told us about his life where
he had found “the surpassing worth of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”[3]Because
of this discovery, he was able to count all his other achievements and
credentials as “loss” and “rubbish.”[4] He
had experienced such a transforming relationship with Jesus Christ that he
wanted everyone else to come to know Jesus in the same way.
Watching my
wife enjoying some bubble-blowing fun on a bright sunny Sunday morning (while I
was snapping some last minute pictures!), helped me to see something of what imitation
should look like. We are drawn into relationship with someone else, and gain
enough experiences of what that person is doing, that we are able to do the
same things. This is obvious with children. It appears that it also ought to be
obvious with the children of God.
© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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