Imitating the Master

My father was an artist. He had a black leather sketchbook filled with cartoons and doodles. As a boy I was enthralled by his drawings and wondered how I could learn to draw like him. I began by tracing over his originals line for line. Once I got a feel for the shape of the image, I drew my own copy next to his. At first my images looked like the childish imitations they were. But in time it was hard to tell which drawings were mine and which were my father’s.

We often view the Christian life this way. It is the imitation of Christ. But when we live the Christian life, we are not…