Imitation With A Center
Following faithful steps, Jesus shaping my stride while keeping me myself.
Devotional Credit: In Christ, E. Stanley Jones
Photo Credit: Unsplash
Paul told the Thessalonians they became imitators of the churches in Jesus, and earlier he had said they became imitators of the apostles and of the Lord. E. Stanley Jones asks the honest question. If we are in Jesus, is there still a place for imitation. His answer is gentle and freeing. When our first allegiance is to the Lord, we can gladly learn from any good example without losing who we are. The center holds, and the learning multiplies.
This helps those of us who get nervous about copying others. We are not called to become echoes. We are invited to be a voice shaped by Jesus, and because our core is anchored in Him, we can take healthy cues from people and communities that carry His life. The Spirit does not erase our personality. He renews it. Then He uses other believers as living tutors who point us to the same Lord.
Jones shows how Scripture names both personal and corporate imitation. Imitate us and the Lord, Paul says, and you became imitators of the churches in Judea. The aim is not to be a fan club. The aim is to share the same life. When my eyes are fixed on Jesus, I can adopt another believer’s patience, prayer habits, or servant mindset, not as a costume, but as a pathway for the indwelling Lord to express Himself through me in my setting.
So we relax. We can learn from a mentor’s faith, a friend’s courage, a church’s compassion. We stay primarily imitators of the Lord, and secondarily imitators of people who are following Him. The result is not sameness. It is family resemblance. Different voices, one song, Jesus at the center.
Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
I set you in my Son, and I call you to follow his steps. Be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as the Messiah loved you and gave himself up for you. I gave you leaders whose way of life you may consider, and whose faith you may imitate. Mark those who walk according to the example you have in them, yet remember, your pattern is Christ.
You received the word in much affliction with joy in the Holy Spirit, and you became imitators of the Lord and of faithful servants. Hold fast the pattern of sound words. Follow me as I lead you in triumph in the Messiah. Fix your eyes on Jesus, and as you behold the Lord, you are being transformed from glory to glory by my Spirit.
I renew you in knowledge after the image of your Creator. You were crucified with the Messiah, and the life you now live in the body, you live by faith in the Son of God. Present your body as a living sacrifice. Do not be conformed to this age. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern my will. I conform you to the image of my Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Real-Life Analogy
Think of walking a snowy sidewalk after a fresh storm. The first person down the path presses clear footprints. When you step into those prints, you do not lose your stride. You simply find solid footing where someone already tested the ground. The walk becomes lighter, and you still arrive as yourself.
Imitation in Jesus works like that. The Holy Spirit within uses the holy patterns you see in others as ready steps, while the life of Jesus expresses Himself through your personality. Today, if you admire a coworker’s patient tone, choose dependence. In your heart say, Lord, I trust you to voice that same patience through me in this conversation. Then speak plainly and kindly, expecting the Lord to supply the quality you admired, now coming from His life in you.
Prayer of Confidence
Father, thank you that I am in Jesus and free to learn from your people without losing who you made me to be. Thank you for the examples you set in front of me, and for your Spirit who forms the life of your Son within me. I bless you that imitation is not pretense. It is participation. I receive this day as your assignment, and I walk in the steps you provide, trusting the fruit to point to you.
Scripture References for the Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture Section
1 Thessalonians 2:14, 1 Thessalonians 1:6, 1 Corinthians 11:1, Philippians 3:17, Hebrews 13:7, Ephesians 5:1-2, 2 Timothy 1:13, 2 Corinthians 2:14, Hebrews 12:2, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Colossians 3:10-11, Galatians 2:20, Romans 12:1-2, Romans 8:29, 1 Peter 2:21, Colossians 3:17, John 13:15