I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Be Imitators
Children learn to function in real life by imitating those around them.
They learn to speak by listening to their family’s words and copying what they hear. They learn to interact with others by observing how their loved ones interact with others. They learn what’s culturally and socially appropriate by watching and imitating.
They learn how to eat, play, read, pray, cook, fish, braid, draw, garden, build, worship, invest, and navigate relationships by noticing and mimicking those around them.
And it doesn’t stop with children. People will often reflect those closest to them, as well as their environment.
Perhaps that’s why, while writing from the confines of a Roman prison, the apostle Paul gave the believers in Ephesus a heartfelt charge:
“Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.”
Ephesians 5:1 NLT
Paul knew that loving and reflecting God was foundational. What we observe will get repeated and, eventually, passed along. The fancy word for this concept is discipleship—where we learn from those we trust and teach others what we’ve learned.
Regardless of where we’re at in life, we’re all being discipled by something. That’s why we should carefully consider who we are listening to and following.
It is vital to build our lives on Truth.
It’s already in our God-given makeup to reflect God. But as humans, we still have to intentionally remember who and whose we are, which is the first step in becoming more like Christ.
“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.”
Colossians 1:1-8 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/col.1.1-8.NKJV
“For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast? Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD.”
Ezekiel 14:21-23 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/ezk.14.21-23.KJV
