There’s a video of a boy, probably about 4 years old, all dressed up and pumped up, going through the motions of preaching. It appears to be an official church gathering, with the congregation and a couple of church leaders encouraging the boy to keep going (“preach on!” and “amen!”).
Indeed, the boy kept going with a volume and intensity that was rather elevated. He was quite animated with his hands, and moved spiritedly around the stage and even on the floor in front of the pulpit. The manner in which the little boy delivered his “sermon” was very much reminiscent of adult, high-energy preachers. He repeated words and phrases he may have heard from preachers, even with no continuity of thought. In other words, the boy was simply mimicking what he had seen and heard from adult preachers. Now, I do not desire to discount what God may choose to do through that event or video, but yes, I have to say that, no matter what it looked like, what the boy was doing wasn’t preaching.
I share this because it got me to thinking about my behavior and conduct as one who claims to be a follower of Christ. I am aware of the popular WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) approach to Christian ethics. I have applied that guideline myself many times. However, I also have come to realize that, while very helpful, such an approach has its limitations. Improperly applied, Christianity
may become nothing more than outward behavior that “looks Christian” but does not touch the very core of my being. That is, it is just mimicking Jesus’ actions but not letting him be the Lord who transforms me and directs me from the inside.
Mimicking is more about a person engaging in certain actions in order to look or appear like the one imitated. Certain actions may make us appear to be like followers of Christ. But Christ is not interested in mere appearance (see Matthew 7.21-23).
Christian conduct is about the presence of God in a person’s life forming that person to become like Christ. We are called not merely to look like Jesus, but to become like Jesus. So that our conductisn’t just external actions, but flows out of who we are becoming in Christ.
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8.29 NIV). “We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3.18 HCSB). “Put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth” (Ephesians 4.24 HCSB).
—Keith Y. Jainga