It’s laundry day. Even though I dislike most housework, I enjoy washing clothes. My mom let me help her do laundry when I was little. She made it fun by singing hymns while we worked. I handed her clothes pins until I was tall enough to reach the line myself. As I grew, she taught me to sing rounds with her. I love singing, hymns, and washing clothes because of Mom. All these years later, laundry reminds me of her.
Imitation
The Bible says we should imitate God. How on earth can we do that when we can’t see him? We need a flesh and blood model to imitate. That’s one of the reasons God gave us Jesus. Christians are followers of Jesus. We watch him and do as he does, just as I learned by imitating my mom.
Jesus didn’t ever seem to hurry, and yet he got a lot done in three years of earthly life. He spent hours alone, listening to God, and talking to him. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing,” (John 5:19 NIV). Maybe if I wasn’t in such a hurry, I could get more accomplished. Spending more time listening to God’s still small voice, like Jesus did, might increase our productivity in the things that really matter—like showing love to other people.
Kids are Watching
No pressure, but our kids are watching us. They imitate us whether we are behaving as Christians or not. How can we model Christ like behavior if we don’t spend time with him? If we don’t give our kids a good example to imitate, how will they learn? Words alone won’t do. If we don’t spend time with our kids, who are they imitating?
According to the Bible, when we imitate Jesus, other people will imitate us. Imagine the impact if our kids and their friends imitate Jesus because we faithfully represent him to them. Nobody can do this by themselves without God’s help. Nourishing our faith is critical, even if we can only manage a few minutes each day.
Please comment on the ways you nourish your faith. We can imitate each other and grow.
* Scripture reference 1 Thessalonians 1: 6a & 7a “You became imitators of us and of the Lord; …And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.”
