Who Should We Imitate

I wrote some devotions for the students attending Winter White Wash this weekend and thought I'd share them here while we're gone. Here is the second in the series.
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Who should we imitate?

I only remember a couple actual vacations from my childhood. One of those was a trip I took with my cousins and brother with my Grandma and Grandpa and mom and an aunt. The cool part of the trip was that we were taking Grandpa’s RV! Us boys got to ride up top, above the cab – Grandpa had us looking out for alligators on the road. Oddly enough, there weren’t very many alligators in southern Iowa, but it kept us quiet - hey, I was only like 5 so don’t judge me.

Our trip started right here in Casper, and the first stop was in the Black Hills at Reptile Gardens. As we toured the exhibit, my mom’s cousin was carrying me and standing on a balcony, pretty close to a railing. I’m not sure how it all got started, but I began spitting onto (or at least toward) the people down below. Needless to say, that kind of behavior didn’t go over too well with my family (except my mom’s cousins that thought it was funny) or the people who suddenly discovered they needed indoor umbrellas! So, what did I do? I blamed the parrot.

There was a parrot nearby who was cracking shells, taking out the seeds, and spitting out the rest. I thought it would be fun to imitate that parrot. I may have thought it was fun, but I ended up getting in a lot of trouble, not to mention causing my mom a lot of embarrassment! I probably shouldn’t have chosen to imitate that parrot. He really wasn’t a good model for me to follow.

Hebrews 13:7 says to “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” We need to choose carefully who we are imitating. Some of the people who have become cultural role models do not deserve that position in your life. “Consider the outcome of their way of life.” What does God want the outcome of your life to be? Find someone who displays that in their own lives and imitate them.