DAD'S RAMBLINS – IMITATORS
"Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good, He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God." (III John 11)
What does it mean to imitate what is evil or what is good? The King James Version uses the term, "follow." Strong's Concordance says that the root Greek word is mimos from which we get the word "mimic" or to act like someone or something.
We are called to not follow, imitate, mimic, or act like the world of evil, but to be followers of God, acting as He would act. As Paul wrote to the Romans, "Be not conformed to this world" (Romans 12:2).
Paul also wrote, "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1). He used the same Greek word as Peter did, mimos, to exhort people to follow or act like him as he acted like Jesus. That is a high calling for every believer – to set an example of what is good that other people can follow.
I think that may be what Peter was thinking when he wrote, "For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps" (I Peter 2:21). Remember the old story about the father who was leading his son through the deep snow? The father took small steps so it would be easy for his son to follow, and he urged his son to walk in his footsteps.
This is a great challenge to me, to be the sort of person that other people could follow or imitate, that they could walk in my steps and do good and not evil. I want my footsteps to lead other people to Jesus.
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