We have all heard the phrase, “Imitation is the highest form of flattery.” But I came across this quote the other day – “Imitation is the highest form of humility.” While I’m not sure if it’s the highest form, I had never thought about imitation in this way – imitation as humility. And it reminded me of the idea of imitating Christ, and what that truly means.
See, some people would think of imitating Christ as the very opposite of humility. To think that we could be that good! That righteous! But that’s the point, we can’t be that good. Not on our own. Sure, people can do good things on their own. But doing good things and being good – being good as God is good – are two very different things. When we take to imitating Christ, to becoming like Him, we are showing our understanding that we could never measure up on our own devices. No amount of good works could ever bring us to that level. We are showing humility – the humble truth that we need His righteousness – and therefore, His grace – in order to have a relationship with Him.
“Therefore be imitators of God…” The section of verses right before this, Ephesians 4:20-32, can be summarized by the idea of putting off the old self and putting on the new self. We are told that this ‘new self’ is “…created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” This new self is, in a way, an imitation of Him.
C.S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity, describes this concept as “dressing up as Christ.” And he claims that when we do this – when we ‘imitate Christ;’ when we, in a way, pretend to be like Him – we will actually be transformed into His image. But Lewis doesn’t stop there; he goes on to make it clear that it is not us who do all this work – really it is God. He is the One who does the pretending. Because of Christ, He takes us in our sinful, self-centered, wicked state and looks at us as if we were holy and righteous as Christ is Himself. He not only forgives our sins, but He treats us as if we had never done anything wrong in the first place. And this – this pretense – goes beyond just that; God isn’t just looking at us as if we were like Christ, but He is actually making us like Christ. As Lewis says, “God looks at you as if you were a little Christ: Christ stands beside you to turn you into one.”
This is where imitation moves into re-creation. God is re-creating us, from the inside out. This is a process; it doesn’t happen all at once, which is why it has to start with imitation. But it is a beautiful, grace-filled process; the Holy Spirit working in us and with us through it all. The imitation that starts from a place of humility leads to a re-creation which can leave us nothing but humbled. For this is all impossible without the cross. It is Christ dying for us, sacrificing Himself so that we might be covered by His blood – so that we might obtain His holiness and righteousness – that is the foundation of all of this. We would be hopeless, stuck trying to do the impossible in reaching God on our own, if it were not for Christ’s sacrifice. If it was not for God’s grace. For His love. That is the part that should leave us the most humbled – that the God of the Universe would be so full of love and grace for us that He would sacrifice Himself in order to make us new – in order to have relationship with us. That He would do all that despite all of our sin. That He would do all that even in light of the fact that we could never repay Him.
