01/07/2025
This morning I read a devotional message written by Oswald Chambers regarding our knowing Jesus, and it dealt with how well, and when, the disciples came to know Him and it begged us to ask the question... do we really know Him? When I had completed my reading and was contemplating my own relationship with Jesus Christ and what I needed to do to know Him better, two words were given to me... imitation and emulation. They sound very similar, and out of ignorance we often use them interchangeably, but they are quite different in meaning.
“Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
John 14:9 KJV
The apostles had a tough time grasping who Jesus really was. They first became the friends of Jesus the man, and it wasn't until later that they began a relationship with Jesus the Christ... the Son of God.
In our walk with Jesus we know through the Word of God that He is indeed His Son, and we know this from the very beginning of our relationship with Him. But then, as we begin to draw closer and strive to be more like him we too grow in our understanding of who He is. The questions that come to my mind is this... Am I imitating Jesus today, or am I emulating Him?
To imitate someone or something is a fairly shallow thing and has a low expectation associated with it. We are merely using the object of our impersonation as a model, and we are attempting to simply appear as it does. However, when we emulate, we are attempting to equal or better the object of our emulation. We are not only attempting to appear as it does, but to equal, or exceed the qualities of what we are trying to be like.
“whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
1 John 2:6 ESV
I thought about this for a long while and it came to me that in my early days of conversion to Christianity I was an imitator. I didn't know Jesus very well, so I followed His teachings and tried to do those things He said and did by imitating Him. In my newness this was appropriate, but it is not what the Lord had planned for me, and it isn't what His ultimate plan is for you either. Jesus wants us to be much closer than this. As our belief increases, we should cease to imitate Him and seek to emulate Him. Jesus tells us this is possible in scripture:
“"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”
John 14:12 ESV
It almost sounds sacrilegious to think that we can do anything greater than the most perfect man to have ever walked the earth, but if we believe in Him then we must believe His Word... "whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these." In so doing we will have moved to a place in our faith that is greater than simple friendship and imitation to one of undying faith and emulation. We will cease to just act like Him and begin to be like Him. We will cease trying to imitate His walk and begin to walk as He walked for the same reasons that He walked that way. We will stop imitating Him and start wanting to go to the Father with the same expectations that He had.
I asked myself a couple of questions, and these are the same questions we should each be asking of ourselves today; "where am I in my relationship with Jesus? Am I imitating or emulating Him?" These are good questions to ask ourselves and beginning at a point of imitation is not a conviction or failure, but a challenge to move forward in our faith and relationship to something much deeper… much more.
We are not expected to understand or believe all at once. Our faith is meant to be ever growing and there will always be more for us to learn in our quest to emulate Jesus as He walks toward God. We see an example of this when Jesus is preparing to cast an evil spirit out of a man's son. Jesus asks this of the father...
“Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”
Mark 9:23-24 KJV
"I believe; help thou mine unbelief", the desperate father said this because he knew his belief was imperfect. Maybe this morning we are saying a similar thing when we pray: “I am like you in this; help me in those ways I am not." When we pray these words are we imitating or emulating the father in this Bible story? When we pray to be like Jesus are we simply imitating what He said or are we seeking something more… to emulate Him and be as He is for the same reasons that He is who he is. Let’s emulate Jesus in much the same way that He emulated us when he was born a man… He not only took on our human form but realized our human inadequacy and humbled Himself before God as we are meant to do.
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Philippians 2:5-8 ESV
Prayer:
Thank you, Father, for allowing me to imitate you until I am able to emulate you. Father hear my spirit as it cries out to you... "I believe; help in my unbelief!" Draw me near Lord and bring me out of the realm of shadows in which I am but an image of your Son and bring me to that place where I am truly like Him, standing in your light. I seek to be an heir and joint heir in your kingdom Father. I want to not only imitate Jesus, but to emulate Him and be as He is. Lead me, teach me, bless me, so that I can walk every day. and find myself closer to you as I rest each night. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who loved me enough that you sent your Son to be a man in every way, to feel like I do, and to be tempted like I am. Holy are you who sent Him complete with your mercy and grace so that I might see Him, emulate Him, and be forgiven for those things which He is, and I am failing to be. Help me Father to move closer to you each day until at last you place your hand upon my head and say rise my child, my good and faithful servant. I long for the day when you will look at me and see the image of your Son Jesus. On that day I will shout out Hallelujah! and claim the Divine Amen you imagined when man was first created in your image… heirs and joint heirs in Christ.
Amen, Amen, Amen!
Rich Forbes