When my son was a toddler, he paid careful attention to his pastor father giving people Communion. And then he tried to imitate that at home. He took pieces of popcorn out of a bowl, shouted “Take, eat!” and did his best to cram them between our teeth. We cracked up. I’m glad he didn’t decide to baptize us, too!
Children imitate their parents. And in this passage, Paul calls us to imitate our Father—to do the things that Jesus did, in the way that Jesus did them. He’s not telling us to earn our salvation by being good—that would be ridiculous. Jesus has already loved us and given Himself up for us, when He died for us on the cross. His resurrection confirms what He said just before dying: “It is finished.” Nobody needs to do anything else to earn God’s gift of salvation. Jesus has done everything for us.
Then why do we do good deeds? Precisely because we are God’s children, and what He does, we imitate. We follow in Jesus’ footsteps because we love Him, and we want to be like Him. We have His Holy Spirit living in us, every day making us more and more like Him in truth. And so our tiny acts of love imitate Jesus’ great acts of love, and serve as a witness to the world that is watching us: “Look how they love!” As Jesus tells us, “By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
WE PRAY: Lord, help me to imitate You! Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
1. When you were young, whom did you imitate?
2. What is one area of your life where you long to be more like Jesus?
3. How do you think Jesus feels about your childish attempts to be like Him? Why?