The apostle Paul regularly told his readers to imitate his life and beliefs. He gives the impression that if someone followed his example they would surely know the way of Christ. There are numerous examples of the "imitate me" admonition. In 1 Corinthians 4:14-17, while dealing with a disciplinary issue he says, “be an imitator of me.� In 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1, while addressing Christian liberty he says, “be an imitator of me as I am of Christ.� In Philippians 3:17, while refuting heresies he says that they should join in following his example and any others in the church who live like he does. Again in Philippians 4:9 while exhorting them he says that they should follow things that they have learned and received and heard and seen him do. In 1 Thessalonians 1:6 and 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9, Paul commends the church for imitating his example. He does the same to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:10-14, where he commends Timothy for following his teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings. Paul saw himself as an example of the believer's life, and he invited people to imitate it.
I was in college during the mid 80s, the time of the infamous "TV evangelists scandals". The whole nation got to watch as several prominent ministers and their large ministries crashed and burned on national television. During and after that time, virtually every speaker in chapel my senior year would counsel all of us younger ministers with a very similar line (it was as if they had compared notes!). Toward the end of their sermon they would pause and get very serious. Then they would say, "Young people, don't put your eyes on men, men will fail you. Keep your eyes on Jesus, Jesus will never fail you." The "amens" that followed were deafening. Hey . . . you can't argue with that one. Jesus, he's the one we want to follow. We want to do what Jesus would do. Right? People fail, but Jesus never does. Thus, don't imitate people; imitate Jesus.
Not long afterwards it became popular to see the letters WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) on wristbands and tee shirts, hats, etc. The purpose of this was to get people to think about what Jesus would do in any given situation. I think to some degree this was a noble thing. I have only one problem with WWJD. It is the fact that we really don't know what Jesus would have done in any given situation because he so often did things we wouldn't expect. In some cases he did the purely unacceptable. We think of the story about Jesus being anointed by the woman with the alabaster jar as a wonderful example of Jesus' care for the poor woman (and it is!). And, yet, that woman was not someone you would want to bring home to mother (note the response of the Pharisees in Lk. 7:39). If some well-known TV evangelist appeared in the same compromising situation we might get a little bit concerned. At the very least we would say that he was not refraining from "the appearance of evil". The fact is, we just don't know what Jesus would do. He did things we not only wouldn't do, but would criticize others for doing.
So how will we know WWJD? I am convinced that we need other people to help us.
Paul's answer to WWJD was that if people wanted to know what Jesus would do they could imitate him. I don't think he would have liked the saying "don’t follow men, just keep your eyes on Jesus." I think he would have rather put meat on the bones of that statement by saying, “and you can do that by looking at the way I live.�
For a lot of people statements like that are a bit distressing. I must admit; I don’t want to say it. It’s too hard. It’s not only a difficult thing to say, it’s a difficult thing for us to hear. It sounds boastful. For some it’s just plain unacceptable. Few are willing to follow Paul in this. The main reason is because many of our "examples" haven't faired too well. And of course there's also the problem, "what if I fail?" Other people have not been such good examples and have done great damage. Maybe it’s best that we don’t stress the "imitate me" thing because some haven't done so well at it.
That logic is, however, just plain wrong. It's sort of like a mechanic who quits doing brake jobs because the guy down the street didn’t do them very well. Just because some people have done things wrong does not mean that we should not do them at all. The answer to the failure of others is not to quit, but rather to do it right! I am so thankful for the many people in my life who did it right.
There are, of course, people in your life to whom you must say, "imitate me", your kids for starters. Even if you're not willing to say it to other people, you cannot cop-out it when it comes to your kids. You've got to say it to them. They're going to follow our example anyway; we have no choice in the matter. As a college professor I am constantly aware that students watch me. It can be uncomfortable, not so much because I am afraid that I'm going to commit some awful sin in front of everyone, but because I know myself. I get irritated, I sometimes forget to hide my feelings and show how I feel all over my face. I get a little worried at times that I will say something in the midst of conversation or lecture that will be offensive.
I've come to the conclusion that modeling the Christian walk is not putting on an aura of perfection; I can't do that. I think it's about doing your best, and modeling the capacity to endure. It’s about getting up when you fall down and learning what made you fall in the first place so you can help others when they observe your manner of life. These are things I can do, and if this is what it means then I guess with Paul I can also say, "Follow me as I follow Christ."
