Imitate

 

 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. (Hebrews 13:7)

          There’s a scene in Jaws in which Sheriff Brody’s son mimics him. Children look up to their parents – sometimes not wisely – but it’s one illustration of what this passage is talking about. For us, it’s not to be a blind mimicry. We’re to evaluate their lives and mimic their faithful behavior.

         There are some challenges to this. First, I don’t tend to be too impressed by most people I meet. They’re people. If I’m going to imitate someone, I want someone who is larger than life. There are few who fit that description today, and the ones I’m tempted to think did so in the past aren’t really available for study. Oh, I can read what they wrote or what was written about them but that will only tell me what they or some other person wishes me to know about them. And when you try to imitate the half or third of someone who is legendary as if that half or third is all, you’re bound to fail. That failure may even be in the same ways that they failed, but you may not know that.

          That returns us to the prospect of living leaders, most of whom, again, aren’t impressive. But the reality is, I’m not all that impressive either. So, do I need someone marvelous to emulate, or someone who is more like me, but with a little more experience, and to whom I can go to seek advice. That means the John Pipers, John Ortbergs, and Andy Stanleys of the world – as admirable as they may seem and be – aren’t the leaders to which the passage refers, unless you happen to attend the church where they preach.

          And if those leaders fail, as they are likely to fail, we can learn from their experience there, too.