Philippians 3:17-20

Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

Would you be comfortable allowing a video crew to follow you around for a month, recording your every waking moment? I know I wouldn’t. But why not?

Well, I do plenty of things I do not want anyone to see. And here I am not just talking about drinking milk out of the carton, snoring in front of bad television or wearing dirty socks because I am sick of doing laundry. I am thinking of more serious things, like speaking unkindly to the people I love, losing my temper, or being self-serving. There’s a lot I wouldn’t want caught on camera.

So it’s hard for me to imagine how Paul could write to his fellow church members and say, “Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me.” You would have to have enormous confidence in your own moral behavior to make a claim like that. Or else you’d have to have a huge ego. And my guess is that Paul had both.

But he also had a deep belief in the power of Jesus to forgive. He knew what it felt like to be cruel, to hurt others and then to experience forgiveness. And I doubt he knew that from just one experience on the road to Damascus. Paul writes like a guy who learned it fresh every day. And still he told people to imitate him.

Perhaps they were to imitate him and his fellow Christians by being people in search of forgiveness. Not perfect, just aware and sorry.

Now, that’s someone I think I could imitate after all.

Prayer

On this day I do not pray to be perfect, but I pray to be forgiven. And remind me, Holy Spirit, that people are indeed watching what I do and say. We are all imitating somebody, and somebody may be imitating me. Help me to deserve it. Amen.