September 29, 2020
No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 1 John 3:6
The last time my son Ross visited me I asked him to organize a cabinet full of ancient videotapes, many from my first job as a TV news reporter. You can imagine the fun he had looking at his 20-something mother in her 1980s clothes and hairstyle. (And of course, the fun he made of me!)
“You look so different, Mom,” Ross said. “You don’t even sound like you.”
Well, it was a long time ago. But as I explained to him, I was fresh out of school so I often copied others who were successful to learn how to do the job. It made me think – who have I been copying lately?
Our culture is loaded with so-called role models in sports, politics, and entertainment. And it’s easy to get caught up in wanting to copy the beautiful people in magazines with their flawless faces and fabulous clothes. But the verse from 1 John popped out at me. To really know Jesus is to want to copy Him in real, practical ways. The way he took himself away from the noise and crowds to spend time with God; how he included the often excluded; the way he challenged the accepted rules when he knew they were wrong, like healing on the Sabbath or talking to a Samaritan woman.
I discovered that the gospels are filled with these kinds of role model moments once I began looking for them. Instead of thinking, ‘Jesus was perfect – I could never actually be like Him,’ now I see the “how to” that lies within His story. A friend recently said to me that when she reads the Bible, “Jesus doesn’t tell me what to do; he shows me what works.”
Lord, I ask you to show me, and help me follow your example in large ways and small.
Gina Bridgeman