When I was young, we had a cat. A female cat. Those were the days before the big “Spay and neuter” campaigns, so this cat had lots of kittens over the years. However, she had some serious shortcomings as a mother. The biggest one was the fact that she had no idea how to carry a kitten.
Instead of lifting her kittens by the nape of their neck, she would put her teeth on any available body part and drag her offspring across the porch. Apparently, she had never been carried when she was a kitten, so she hadn’t learned the proper form.
That brings me to the other side of the coin of yesterday’s discussion. As a church, we need to be focused on Jesus, on imitating Him. But we also need to be aware of the need to set an example for one another. That’s a frequent admonition in the New Testament, either to set an example for others or to follow the good example set by others.
I think Paul said it best to the Corinthians, when he said, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1) It’s not just “imitate me.” It’s “imitate me as I imitate Christ.” The Corinthians had seen Paul; they hadn’t seen Christ. But as far as Paul’s life lined up with what they had been taught about Christ, they were to imitate it.
Older Christians have a responsibility to teach younger Christians. Much of that teaching will happen whether we are aware of it or not. I remember one evening when we were hosting some young people in our home in Argentina. The need arose for me to discipline my son, and I did so on the spot. (It involved physical violence toward his sister with a Lincoln log… but we won’t go into that) After punishing my son, I spent some time playing with him in his room before returning to the group. One young man commented, “You know that we are learning how Christians should raise their children by watching you.” That was a sobering thought.
We should imitate good examples. And we should seek to be good examples for others. I like what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2: “And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2) If we do it right, we create a chain of disciples, all seeking to imitate Christ and learning to do that by watching others do the same.
