What kind of life in Christ are we reflecting to others?

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.”
1 Corinthians 11:1 New Living Translation

It’s obvious from this picture that the trees on the water are a reflection of the trees next to the shore, yet sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish whether you’re looking at a reflection or the real thing.

Fox Run Regional Park, Black Forest, Colorado

We have been redeemed to reflect Christ.

We are invited to imitate Paul, or as happens today, those who are mature in their faith. God doesn’t want us left to our own devises to figure out what it means to walk in Christ. He gives us godly examples for us to imitate.

My favorite baseball player as a kid was Willie Mays. I’d stand in the street and throw a baseball as high in the air as I could then imitate Willie’s patented basket catch. Like Willie, God has raised up mature followers of Christ for us to imitate. 

However, imitating other human creatures falls short because sin. Even Paul had a hot temper that got him into trouble (Acts 15:36-41). Ultimately we imitate Christ. As we imitate Christ we reflect his imagine. There are days when the reflection is better than other days. In fact, some days it doesn’t seem that we’re reflecting his image at all.

Even though we might not perfectly reflect Christ, we continue to strive to mirror him. The gift of forgiveness is that amazing gift God hands us each day that we might once again strive to display his love.

Maybe God is using our faith for someone to imitate.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner