Year 6, Day 323: 2 Chronicles 24

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

The idea behind imitation is really discipleship.  The imitation step is all about finding people in your life who are applying God’s truth and learning to imitate their efforts.  Imitation isn’t about making carbon-copies, however.  Imitation is not about duplication.  It is about mentoring and developing good habits that bring us closer to the Lord.

This is what we see in the beginning of Joash’s life.  The young king is under the tutelage of Jehoiada.  Jehoiada brings him up in the ways of the Lord.  Jehoida helps protect him from the world while he is developing.  Jehoiada helps give guidance to the young king.  Joash learns to imitate.

However, Jehoiada eventually dies.  Joash loses his mentor.  Things start to go downhill quite quickly.  Before too long, even Jehoiada’s son is persecuted and killed.  When Joash loses his mentor, he falls away from God.

Now, I’m not blaming Joash’s fall on the lack of a mentor.  The idea of mentoring is that eventually the person being mentored becomes mature and capable of mentoring others while making mature decisions.  That being said, though, we should never lose sight of the power of having people in our lives that we can look up to and imitate.  We all have room to grow, always.

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Year 6, Day 301: 1 Chronicles 29

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

The overarching point of all of the last five or six chapters in 1 Chronicles is the example that David is trying to set for his son, Solomon.  David wants his son to see what leadership looks like.  David wants Solomon to understand what the people respect and more importantly what God respects.

However, when we look at the effects of David’s attempt, we see that it impacts not just Solomon but all of the leaders of the people.  David speaks to Solomon about all that he has given out of his treasure for the temple.  The next thing he knows, the other leaders of the Hebrew people are coming forward and contributing even more to the temple effort.  David looks to set up his son to imitate his faith and he inspires imitation in more people than just Solomon.

Then something really cool happens.  After this massive collection takes place, David turns to God and reminds us what the point of imitation is all about.  Imitation isn’t about creating duplicates of me – or David, for that matter.  Imitation is about putting people into relationship with God so that God can receive the glory. Imitation is about God, not me or you.

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Year 6, Day 299: 1 Chronicles 27

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

1 Chronicles 27 reads much like a maintenance chapter, just like many of the chapters before it.  David is preparing to hand of the leadership of the kingdom to his son, Solomon.  As he goes about this business, he gets the worship in order first.  Then he makes sure that he takes care of the military defenses.  Then he makes sure that the money is taken care of.  Note David’s priorities and the message that he is sending for his son to imitate.

When we look at the list of military leaders, did you notice just how many of these military leaders are on David’s list of thirty mighty men?  David is making sure that the military leaders who are in charge of the defense of Jerusalem and the nation are skilled.  He wants to know that he has capable leaders when it counts.

However, I think David is doing more than this.  David knows that when the army comes, it will be filled with young men who aren’t truly sure about what they are doing.  The army may be filled with inexperienced men who don’t have battle seasoning.  By making sure that a strong leader is in place, David knows that these young men will have a great leader upon whom they can look.  David knows that the qualities of this leader will have a good chance of being passed on into the younger men and imitated as they grow up and mature.

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Year 6, Day 271: Zechariah 12-13

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while – or if you follow the link above for the theological commentary – you’ll know that three years ago I took a position on this passage as finding truth in the first coming of Christ.  Mind you, that doesn’t mean that the typical second-coming look at these scriptures is wrong.  It simply means that like much of scripture, the depth of scripture is found in the layers of interpretation.

This passage talks about pouring out God’s Spirit upon those who look upon the one who was pierced.  This sounds like a dead ringer for what happened to Jesus.  He came, He died, and God poured out His Spirit upon those who look upon Him.  There is a fountain of grace and mercy opened up to us.  We are cleansed of our sinfulness and our unrighteousness through Jesus.

In Christ, we also see the end to idolatry as we are brought into genuine relationship with the Father.  We see the end to false prophecy because those who are genuinely following Christ have access to the Spirit of God directly.  Because Christ’s followers listen directly to Him, they obey Him.

This is what leads us from the example of Christ to the idea of imitation.  He came and died so that we could have relationship with the Father.  He came and died so that we could know righteousness.  He came to point us to the Father.  We should do the same.  We can’t die for the sake of other people; we can’t even die for our sake meaningfully!  But we can continue to point people to the fountain of righteousness that Christ opened up.  We can point people to true and genuine prophesy and putting away their idols.  We can imitate Christ and participate in the work of the kingdom.

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Year 6, Day 240: 2 & 3 John

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

When we look at 2 John and 3 John, we can hear a clear emphasis on work and visible signs of faith.  We are to love.  How do we love?  We show our love by walking in the commandments of God.  In other words, we imitate Jesus and His teachings.  We show our love in imitation of godliness.

This is truly the message of John 3 as well.  Do you hear the contrast between Diotrephes and Demetrius?  Diotrephes is all about himself.  He is putting his ways first.  He isn’t interested in imitating anyone else; Diotrephes is interested in making himself the center of attention.  He is not welcoming other people who are trying to imitate Christ.

On the other hand, we hear about Demetrius.  He has received a good testimony.  He is imitating the brothers.  Truth shines through him because he is willing to imitate the faith of those who came before him.

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Year 6, Day 109: Hebrews 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Information, Imitation, Innovation 

• Information: This is the initial phase of become a disciple of Jesus.  Before we can do anything meaningful we must begin to understand what we are doing.  We may never gain full understanding of God and His ways, but God calls us to study Him, His Son, and His ways as the foundation of being His follower.
• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.
• Innovation: When we have studied God and learned to imitate Him, then we can begin to apply what we have learned and practiced into our life in new and innovative ways.  In this way we truly become the person of God that He sees us to be.

The end of Hebrews 5 is a very challenging section.  The author of Hebrews really doesn’t pull any punches with what he says.  He looks at the witness of the people and tells them that aren’t pulling their own weight.  They’ve become dull.  If you want to know why they’ve become dull, the reason is simple.  Keep reading.  They are dull because while they should have developed into teachers they’ve continued to stay students.  They should be feasting on spiritual meat but they only want the spiritual milk.

This is a problem with human beings.  We like to be comfortable.  We also like for people to care for our needs.  We like to be the student, the mentee.  Being the teacher is far more difficult work.  Being the mentor is far more taxing.  But it is when we start to apply our faith, practice what we preach, and pour our faith into the lives of the others that we suddenly find ourselves growing and feeding off of spiritual meat.

What the author of Hebrews is talking about is this idea of information and imitation – and even eventually innovation into ministry.  Everyone needs to learn the basics.  But we all need to grow beyond the basics.  We need to practice what we’re taught.  Then we need to teach what we’ve learned to others.  We grow stale if we always stay the student.

I love the way that this passage ends.  Solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.  Solid food is for the people who are putting their faith into practice.  It is for those on the front lines of the spiritual battle for souls and relationship with God.  It is not for those being sheltered by others for all of their life.

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Year 6, Day 106: Hebrews 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

Why did Christ come to earth?  Of course, the grand answer to this is so that redemption might come to creation.  Without Christ, there is no eternal forgiveness of sin.  Without Christ, relationship with God is simply not possible.  He came to die so that we might live.

Yet, in coming to die, He came so that we might have an example.  He came so that we could imitate Him.  He came so that we could become like Him.  He came so that we could see God’s power and love and not just follow Him but allow Him to change us so that we are like Him.

He became like us so that we might become like Him.  It is really that simple.  Why wouldn’t we be willing to imitate a person who gave up everything including life itself so that we could live a life more closely related to God?

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Year 6, Day 88: Jeremiah 35

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

Until I read this passage again today, I had completely forgotten about the Rechabites and the teachings of Jonadab.  If you don’t know the background, read my blog post from 3 years ago, to which I have created a link above.  I’ll summarize here:

• Jonadab was linked with Jehu as God judged Israel. 
• After the judgment, Jonadab turns to a nomadic lifestyle and swears off all alcohol.  After all, what nomad has time and space to make alcohol for themselves?
• Over 200 years later, the descendants are still following Jonadab’s instructions.

What I am blown away by is that this time span is approximately the same length of time that America has officially been a nation. How many of us still follow the moral directives of our ancestors who lived at the time of the forming of this country? How many of us even know who those ancestors are?

There is only one way that a moral directive like that can pass through a group of people with any kind of proficiency.  The culture of the Rechabites understood the need for imitation.  They understood that the way to remain faithful is to find faithful people around us, learn what they have to teach us, and then imitate it in our own lives.

The Rechabites are a great example of faith formation.  They are able to stay true for generation after generation.  They are able to stay true to their faith even when the world around them are forsaking God to pursue their own desires.  They can do it because they took seriously what it means to imitate the faithful people around them.

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Year 6, Day 52: Titus 2-3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

When we look at these last two chapters in the book of Titus, we have an excellent opportunity to look at the topic of imitation.  After all, look at how chapter 2 opens.  We have directions for male elders sober-minded, dignified, faithful, loving, and steadfast.  We see that the female elders are to be reverent, not drinking too much, and refraining from slandering people around them.  Then we have a note as to why.  Notice why it is that elders need to live a proper godly way?  They are to be an example to the next generation.  They are to train other people how to live in the faith.

This should make much sense to us.  We know that we are not saved through our good works.  We do not earn our salvation.  So why do we do good works?  Of course, we do it to show our obedience to God.  But more importantly, we do good works so that we can inspire good in others.  We do good works so that people can have an example to imitate.  We who are in the faith do good works for the sake of those who come after us.

We cannot earn our salvation.  We should never think that we can.  But that shouldn’t stop us from doing good works.  There is always an example to set.  There is always an opportunity to speak through our life and into the lives of others.  There is always a time and a place to be obedient to the will of the Father so that others can see this obedience and be inspired to imitate it.

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Year 5, Day 327: 2 Timothy 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

One of the reasons that Paul and Timothy are so famous is because of the relationship that is between them.  They are often lifted up as the model for the discipleship process.  Paul is a strong man of the faith, and he takes a willing Timothy into his life in order to pass that faith on.  As much credit as Paul gets, however, I think that the true credit belongs to Timothy.  Paul already was a man of faith.  Of course he could pass on what he had been taught by God.  Timothy was the one who lived in such a manner as to welcome Paul’s influence into his life.  Had Timothy not been willing to imitate, Paul would have been able to do very little.

We actually see this shown all throughout the first chapter of Paul’s second letter to Timothy.  At the very beginning Paul says that Timothy is his beloved child – a child of faith, of course.  Here we see the relationship that Timothy has embraced.

But it didn’t start with Paul.  Timothy was already open to the moving of the Spirit before Timothy met Paul.  Timothy was open to being taught by his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois.  Their faith passed into him and he learned to imitate that faith.

At the end of this chapter, Paul talks about his suffering.  Everyone who openly follows Jesus will experience persecution in this life.  Paul knows this fact.  Therefore he encourages Timothy to continue to imitate the faith.  It is always easy to fall away when persecution comes.  But even in the midst of persecution Paul encourages Timothy to imitate his faith.

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Year 5, Day 318: Proverbs 27

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

Iron sharpens iron.  It is perhaps the most often quoted proverb.  But we always hear it in the same context.  When I need to grow, I need to find someone who can challenge me.  I need to find someone who can push me beyond my current limitations.  I will not grow by hanging out only with people who are of a lesser status or a weaker condition. If I want to grow, I need to find someone who is capable of meeting my mettle and standing firm.

This is talking largely about the discipleship process.  We aren’t discipled by people who are weaker than us.  We aren’t discipled by people who cannot push us.  We aren’t discipled by people who don’t have a firm lesson to share.

What we are inherently talking about, then, is imitation.  If I want my own iron to become sharp, then I need to find someone who has what it takes to sharpen my iron.  Then I need to imitate them.  I am sharpened by imitating those who are capable of sharpening my character.

We need to understand this dynamic as we go through life.  Without a person to sharpen us – without a person to imitate – we will become stagnant.  But if we can find that person or persons to imitate, then we are that iron being sharpened by iron.

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Year 5, Day 287: 1 Thessalonians 1-2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

I love the sense of imitation that comes through these first two chapters of 1 Thessalonians.  What is really neat is that I’ve never thought about these chapters as a lifting up of praise in the Thesalonians’ ability to imitate.  So often we hear the letters to Thessalonica in a theological argument.  But these opening chapters are truly a praise to the Thessalonians in their spiritual walk!

Look at chapter 1.  Paul tells the Thessalonians that they are influencing the people around them.  The people in the towns around them are witnessing their faith!  This is exactly what people of faith are supposed to be about!  We are supposed to present ourselves as people through whom God is giving the world something to imitate.

Then in Chapter 2, Paul takes us a little farther back in history.  He reminds them that he and his followers came to Thessalonica and gave them an excellent example.  The Thessalonians are able to be imitated because they were willing to imitate.  Here we see the key core to the discipleship process.  In order to make disciples, one must be a disciple.

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Year 5, Day 184: Philippians 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

Philippians 2 is a great chapter for looking at the topic of imitation.  It begins with Paul encouraging the people of Philippi to be humble and live according to God’s ways.  They are to do nothing of selfish ambition.  They are not to be conceited.  They are to think of other people as more important as themselves.

However, look at what Paul points to next.  If the Philippians need inspiration, all they need to do is look at Christ.  Jesus gave up all that He had in order to become man.  He came to teach other people who didn’t deserve to be taught.  He came to die for people who were certainly less than Him.  He came to show others what it means to think of other people first.  He came to demonstrate the godly life.

Jesus is the greatest example that any of us could ever hope to have.  When we are in a moment of temptation, we can look to Christ.  When we are in a moment of self-centeredness, Christ can cure it.  When we are in a moment of indecision, we can see how Christ was willingly obedient.

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Year 5, Day 169: Psalm 15-16

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Information, Imitation

• Information: This is the initial phase of become a disciple of Jesus.  Before we can do anything meaningful we must begin to understand what we are doing.  We may never gain full understanding of God and His ways, but God calls us to study Him, His Son, and His ways as the foundation of being His follower.
• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

Today I’m going to go in reverse order.  If we look at psalm 16 first, what we hear sounds at first like a typical message from the psalmist.  We hear a person who needs God’s protection.  We hear about a person who needs to be lifted up in God’s presence.  At first blush it sounds like a typical psalm that we’ve been reading over the past few days.

However, in this psalm we get a deeper insight into how it happens.  It begins by the Lord’s instruction.  He makes known the path of life.  He gives me counsel.  He instructs me.  Walking with the Lord begins by learning from the Lord what it is like to do so.  It begins with information from Him.  It begins with His Word, His instruction, His ways.  It starts with us as human beings humbling ourselves to His information about true life.

Then we get to Psalm 15.  Psalm 15 takes this information and moves it to the next step.  This psalm takes it to the level of imitation.  Once we know about the Lord’s ways, we need to imitate God.  Who will inhabit God’s holy hill? 

• Those who imitate God. 
• Those who walk blamelessly with their Lord. 
• Those who do what is right. 
• Those who speak truth. 
• Those who do not slander. 
• Those who do not harbor evil against their neighbor. 
• Those who despise evil. 
• Those who do not reproach a friend. 
• Those who do not fall into the corruption of the love of money. 

That sounds like people who imitate God to me.

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Year 5, Day 146: Ephesians 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

I think that imitation is one of the hardest things to do in the Christian life.  Yes, we look to Christ.  Yes, we are grateful for His sacrifice.  We are incredibly thankful for His free gift of eternal life.  But then we have to live like He lived.

How exactly did He live?

• He was there when the crowd needed Him. 
• He healed people. 
• He listened to them. 
• He received anyone who wanted to come to Him regardless of how much or how little money they had, how great or how small their reputation was, and what gender they were.
• He taught and re-taught when His disciples didn’t understand.
• He accepted that His disciples would turn on Him and abandon Him.
• He died for us even though He was incredibly innocent.

In other words, He was selfless.  He gave of Himself for our sake.  He didn’t come to achieve His goals, He came to accomplish God’s will for our sake.

This is why I think imitating God is one of the hardest parts of the Christian walk.  Gratitude and thankfulness is natural and easy.  But putting our feet forward and living out God’s truth in our lives is difficult.  Living a life that pursues God’s agenda and pushes our own agenda down is far more difficult in reality than it sounds.

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Year 5, Day 73: 1 Corinthians 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

Let’s spend yet another day on imitation, just to make sure that we understand the importance of this topic.  We’ve already talked about how the Corinthians’ lack of desire to be humble has gotten in the way of being able to become mature.  Through their lack of humbleness they are unwilling to imitate!  They cannot imitate when they are thinking of themselves first!

However, today we hear Paul lift up a stellar example of how imitation brings about spiritual maturity.  Take a look at 1 Corinthians 4:16-17.  Paul tells the Corinthians to be imitators of him.  And then he tells them about Timothy.

Let’s remember Timothy’s story.  Timothy meets Paul when Paul comes to Lystra.  There Paul teaches.  There Paul gets arrested by a mob.  There Paul gets stoned by the people.  There Paul is left for dead.  There Paul gets up, comes back in Lystra, and recuperates.  Then Paul heads back home only to return.  Upon Paul’s return, Timothy is ready to join Paul.  You can read this story in more depth in Acts 14 and Acts 16.

Now let’s return to the list that Paul gives to us in the middle of this chapter.  Paul reminds the Corinthians that he and those who follow Christ are a spectacle to the world.  We are fools.  We are weak.  We are in disrepute.  We hunger.  We thirst.  We are poorly dressed.  We work hard.  We are persecuted.  We are slandered.  He goes on.  And that is what Timothy saw in Paul in Lystra.  That is what Timothy chose to imitate.  That is what Paul is telling the Corinthians to imitate.

We all want to imitate the successful.  We all want to imitate the glorified.  We all want to imitate that which will make us exalted. 

But that’s not truth.

Jesus came and was crucified.  Jesus’ own disciples were scorned by the world.  God has always called his people into sacrificial love for others – even those who would kill them.  That’s what we are called to imitate.  That’s what Jesus’ disciples saw in Jesus.  That’s what Timothy saw in Paul.  That’s what the Spirit calls forth in each of us.

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Year 5, Day 72: 1 Corinthians 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Information, Imitation, Innovation

• Information: This is the initial phase of become a disciple of Jesus.  Before we can do anything meaningful we must begin to understand what we are doing.  We may never gain full understanding of God and His ways, but God calls us to study Him, His Son, and His ways as the foundation of being His follower.
• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.
• Innovation: When we have studied God and learned to imitate Him, then we can begin to apply what we have learned and practiced into our life in new and innovative ways.  In this way we truly become the person of God that He sees us to be.

Paul opens this chapter with an incredibly harsh critique.  He tells the Corinthians that they are still only capable of spiritual milk.  He couldn’t give them spiritual food because they simply weren’t mature enough!  They weren’t developing.  They weren’t growing.

Let’s remember something.  Paul was likely with the Corinthians longer than he was with any other church that he planted.  We know that he stayed 18 months after he got frustrated with the Jews in Corinth.  So that means that Paul was there at least a year and a half – and probably longer than that.  (See Acts 18:1-11)  Paul was there a long time, long enough to see the people transition from spiritual infants to spiritually maturing.

What is preventing their maturation?  They are divided.  Rather than focusing on God and God’s work in their midst, they are focused on themselves and their own desires.  They are focused on their own ways, their own perspectives, and their own status.  They are focused on being right so everyone else is wrong.

What are they missing?  They are missing humbleness.  They are missing the crucified Lord who allowed Himself to die so God could be at work in it.  They are missing submission.

In truth, they are missing discipleship.  They are refusing to be humble and submit.  They are refusing to move beyond the information stage.  They may be learning the how’s and why’s, but they are missing the transformation that comes through imitation and innovation.  They are missing the transformation that comes by abandoning their own desires and embracing God’s ways and allowing that transformation to happen.

What I find sad about this chapter is that truly Paul was with the Corinthians for a long time.  They more than any of his churches had time to not just learn the information but imitate his behavior and then allow their transformation to be innovated into their own life.  They had an incredible amount of time in the presence of Paul and they seem to have wasted much of it.  We clearly see Paul imitating Christ and innovating in his own life.  But the Corinthians just don’t seem to be willing to do that.  Because they are focused on their own agendas and their own status, they are unable to submit, imitate, and innovate.  So the information stays simply that.  It stays as information and not life-altering transformation.

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Year 5, Day 71: 1 Corinthians 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

This is a great chapter of the Bible to get a true sense of Paul’s genuine humility.  Look at the claims that Paul says here.  He doesn’t come in haughty or lofty words.  He came only knowing Christ.  In fact, he came promoting Christ crucified.  He came to them humbly while proclaiming a message of a humble man.

Furthermore, Paul reminds us that we don’t receive a spirit of the world.  Life isn’t about how much I know or how much I can do.  Life is about God and His ways.  Life is about receiving a spirit of God and depending upon His wisdom and His ways.

I really think this is a great chapter about imitation.  When Christ came, He didn’t put the focus on Himself.  Jesus pointed us to the Father always.  It wasn’t about Him, His miracles, and His awesomeness.  It was about God’s work.  It was about God’s plan of salvation.  Jesus came saying, “Not my will but thine.”

That’s the Paul I see in this chapter.  He came to the Corinthians humbly so God’s ways might shine.  He taught humble so God’s wisdom might get the attention.  He imitated Christ.  So should we.  The world would be a better place if Christians were less interested in proclaiming themselves and more interested in getting out of the way so that God is seen as the focus.

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Year 5, Day 45: Ezra 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Information, Imitation, Innovation

• Information: This is the initial phase of become a disciple of Jesus.  Before we can do anything meaningful we must begin to understand what we are doing.  We may never gain full understanding of God and His ways, but God calls us to study Him, His Son, and His ways as the foundation of being His follower.
• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.
• Innovation: When we have studied God and learned to imitate Him, then we can begin to apply what we have learned and practiced into our life in new and innovative ways.  In this way we truly become the person of God that He sees us to be.

I love the description of Ezra in Ezra 7:10.  Ezra studied the Word of God.  Then he did it.  Then he taught others to do it.  To me, this is absolutely a demonstration of the information → imitation → innovation model.

Ezra studied the Word of God.  If we want to be God’s people, we must be rooted in His Word.  How can we ever hope to talk meaningfully about God if we do not know His Word?  Now don’t get me wrong.  Academic knowledge of the Word is not enough.  As Satan demonstrates when he tempts Christ in the wilderness, even Satan has an academic understanding of God’s Word.  Therefore, academic knowledge of God’s Word is not the end.  But it is absolutely the beginning.  We begin our relationship by learning about who God is and what God wants from us.

Then, we learn to imitate what we see.  We imitate Christ.  We imitate the followers of Christ that we hear about in God’s Word.  We imitate the people of Christ that we see in this world.  In other words, we put what we learn to practice.  Our lives change as we let God’s Word become alive within each of us.

Then we learn to innovate it into our lives and the lives of the people around us.  As we grow in faith and become more skilled in allowing God to shine through us, we find ourselves in positions to teach other people.  We find ourselves to be in a position to invite other people to learn and study God’s Word.  As we approach the innovation stage, through God’s hand we are capable of inviting people around us into the beginning of the information stage.  We see this lived out and celebrated in Ezra in this chapter.

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Year 5, Day 19: 2 Kings 21

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

I find the list of kings from Hezekiah (yesterday’s reading) to Josiah (tomorrow’s reading) to be one of the most significant group of kings in this whole book.  In fact, other than David and Solomon, I think we can learn more from the study of this set of kings than from any other set in the book.

Let’s pick up where we left off yesterday.  Hezekiah was living his life largely for himself.  Then he got sick and Isaiah told him that he wasn’t going to recover.  Hezekiah repented and began the process of changing his life around.  It was during that time that he made sure that copies of the Law were to be found in Jerusalem.  It was at that time that an heir was produced to him.  While Hezekiah has a rough start, he ends well.

Then we get to Manasseh.  2 Kings has nothing good to say about Manasseh, but read 2 Chronicles 33 before putting any major conclusion upon Manasseh.  Here again we see a king who in his younger years follows his own heart and his own desires.  I can’t help but wonder if Manasseh learned to follow his own heart while he was young and Hezekiah was still undergoing the process of reform.  Could Manasseh have learned his evil ways from Hezekiah before he really got into the life changing of God?  Certainly!  But even here, it would appear that Manasseh eventually did imitate his father as repentance seems to find Manasseh – at least according to 2 Chronicles 33.

Then we hit Amon.  Amon abandons God and does not repent.  Here it appears that Amon imitates his father Manasseh during his rebellious years.  But Amon never imitates the repentance of Manasseh his father or Hezekiah his grandfather.  Amon pursues the world, imitating the mistakes of his father that he probably learned while he was growing up.

Tomorrow we’ll get to read about Josiah, who is an incredibly godly king.  Clearly Josiah does not imitate his father.  But I can’t help but wonder if Josiah doesn’t learn from Manasseh his grandfather, as Josiah would have been born after Amon his father was an adult.  I can’t help but wonder if Josiah learned from Manasseh’s repentance, heard the stories of Hezekiah’s repentance, and then saw all of the mistakes of Amon his father’s rule.

In the end, I think so much of this chapter is all about imitation.  What traits and habits are we passing on to our children?  What are we encouraging them to imitate in the places of our life where we do not follow God’s calling?  What are we teaching to our children when we think nobody is looking?

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