“Imitate what is good!”

“Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.” (3 John11 ESV)

Remember, this Apostle whom Jesus loved was so overwhelmed by the love of God the Father, that was shown through God the Son, that every writing we have from him talks about God’s love. In his gospel account of Jesus’ ministry here on earth, remember he wrote, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). This concept of God’s love overwhelmed John’s ministry. He saw God’s love everywhere and continually encouraged believers to follow God’s example of selfless love; that’s why he says, “Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good.”

It seems that we all are imitators of something. It was a common practice in the first century for students to learn by imitating their teachers. After all, how did Jesus teach his disciples? He lived with them for three years and showed them, not just told them, how to love people.

You see, all too often, “Teachers” tell us when, what, and how to do things, but they really teach us by showing us how they live their lives. Another common way the New Covenant letters say this is by using the expression “walking” to refer to what you profess as an example to believe. I think we all have seen examples in our society where people have different standards for others than they do for themselves. It really comes to light in the church, where the “leadership” demands behavior from the congregation that they don’t follow themselves, which is wrong in many ways.

That is why John says we should imitate or follow the example of good. Back in verse 3 John writes, “For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth.” There is nothing more valuable to a person than their reputation. Reputations take a while to develop, do they not? People listen to what you say and then watch what you do. It is the process all of us follow with each other. Doing is really believing, and real believing is doing. You cannot separate the two things. That is what John means when he says to “imitate good.”

In 2 John, he stated that “God is light and there is no darkness in Him,” and now he is telling us to be imitators of that light, that good, that love that God has shown us. Paul uses the same word and concept in 1 Corinthians 11:1 when he says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” You see, we all are imitators of someone; we all look to see how someone else lives out their faith. We know what someone believes by how they live and what they do. We know what is important to them by where they spend their time and resources.

So, as followers of Jesus, let us show the world what it means to be an imitator of what is good. We know that as we follow the examples that Jesus gave us, we can be imitators of good. Let’s let our lives show what we believe, let our walk match our talk. Let others imitate us as we imitate Christ.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"