Many people often compliment my husband and I in regards to the eating habits of our children, especially our three year old. She doesn’t eat candy. In fact, she refuses it! She has just begun to experiment with very small pieces of chocolate but, that’s it. She prefers carrots, celery, apples and grapes, etc. Of course, we don’t mind, its good for her.
But, when and how did this happen? How did we do it? She simply mimics the behaviors modeled before her. We don’t really do junk food. Yes, we have the occasional dessert but, it is not an every evening event.
Just as she mi
mics or rather imitates our good eating habits I have also noticed her exhibit some of our areas of opportunity (that’s the PC way to say negative). She watches us even when we are unaware and we have an indelible effect on her.
As believers we must recognize that we are always on display before the world. We have an effect on their attitudes toward salvation. If we really think of every unbeliever as potentially part of the harvest what kind of believer would they become if they imitated you? Would they be Christlike? And what of our brothers and sisters in Christ, especially those that are babes? We can easily cause them to stumble because of our behaviors and attitudes. It should be our goal to exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit and not be a stumbling block in their way.
Some of us actually desire that people follow us–mimic our behaviors. Such desires should be put in check immediately and we should lay hold to the position of our brother Paul when he said, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.“ (1 Cor. 11:1) Paul was encouraging us to follow his example of imitating Christ’s behaviors, not his own. Paul’s one desire was to walk a path that would lead others to Christ, even at the risk of forfeiting personal satisfaction. (1 Cor. 10:33) He didn’t want any detours that would cause himself or others to lose their way. In fact, in Phil. 3:17 Paul encouraged the Phillipian Church to take note of those who lived according to the pattern he had given them. So, if they felt they might be losing their way they had already noted examples of those who were truly following Christ.
Take note of those around you and ensure that you are following Godly examples. More importantly, ensure that you are being a good example yourself. If we allow our steps to be ordered by the Lord and stop leaning to our own understanding we will not have to worry about who is following us–it won’t be us they are following at all. They will be following Christ as we imitate Him.
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