Therefore I urge you to imitate me. (1 Cor. 4:16)
TRY AS I MIGHT, I simply couldn’t make an arrow fly straight that day. Dad and I were practicing just feet away from a good-sized cardboard target. It was a good thing the target was in the middle of a large stack of hay bales away from our house! Each arrow ended up anywhere but in the target. Dad finally made the decision that, even though I was right-handed, he would teach me how to shoot a bow and arrow left-handed as he did. I found it far easier to watch his example and copy what he did. In fact, the more closely I copied Dad’s technique, using the same hands he did to hold, aim, and release an arrow, the better I got. No one would have mistaken me for Robin Hood that day, but it didn’t take long for me to consistently hit the target.
The early church needed to know how to live on target as Jesus-followers. Paul understood how difficult it could be to live that kind of life effectively in the many cultures of the Roman Empire. So he encouraged believers to simply watch what he did, and follow suit.
I’m a left-handed archer to this day. Imitating someone who knew his stuff made all the difference for me, just as imitating Paul made a big difference in those he influenced in the first century!
Choose to imitate Jesus so others will want to imitate you.
Steve Wamberg is a husband, dad, writer, and pastor who loves his wife, kids and their spouses, preaching, teaching, music, coffee, friends, and Nebraska football.
