“Dear friends, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.” 3 John 11
Imitation is a common thing for every person. Ever person, from a new-born baby to the eldest person, imitates someone or something. It is how people learn to say and do things.
Watch a little baby. If the parent does an action over and over with the baby, there will come a time when the baby will do that action. Later as a child grows up and is in school, he will begin to imitate what the teacher teaches. As an adult, men and women will imitate others to learn how to run a business, or get through a situation in life.
There is nothing wrong with imitating someone. As John closes out his third letter, he points out a simple guideline in imitation. Believers are to imitate what is good.
The challenge now comes into what is good? Movies come out all the time that are classified as “good”. They are box-office hits and everyone is talking about them. Yet, they are filled with nude scenes, adultery, violence, vengeance, filthy talk, and much more. These things are all described as sin in God’s Word.
As a believer you must seek out things that line up with God’s Word and His desires. People and things that are loving, kind, full of grace and mercy, pure and holy are things of God that you should be seeking to imitate.
Ultimately you are to imitate Jesus, who is the exact imitation of God.
Take time to look at your life and determine what or who you imitate. Are those things good or evil? Are those people good or evil?
When people see you what or who do they see?
Is it Jesus?
Or the world?
I pray today that you will know the things of God; that you will strive to imitate Jesus in all you say and do; that God will give you strength to be like Jesus; and that the world will see Jesus when they see you.
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