day no. 15,080: I want to be more like you

1 Corinthians 11:1
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

For a man, a higher compliment can hardly be imagined than another man saying, "I want to be more like you."

It requires a man to acknowledge his lack and another man's plenty. It forces a man to admit his weakness and acknowledge another's strength.

This begins, for the Christian, with God. In order to be a Christian, a man must look up and say, "I want to be like you," implying, "Who I am is not going to cut it."

The man looks up and confesses his lack in light of God's plenty and admits his weakness in view of God's strength.

That man then looks around to other men who are also looking up to God, men who are further up and further in, men more mature and more like Jesus than them. He then says to them, "I want to be more like you, because you also want to be more like Jesus and you are more like Him than I am."

Faith and following, dedication and discipleship take place in the context of looking ahead of you and confessing, "I want to be like you." 

Ephesians 5:1-2
Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

"God exhibits His glory to us for our imitation and expects the sight of the beauty of holiness in Him to beget in us an inextinguishable longing to be like Him." - B.B. Warfield

There is no greater currency a man can deal in than respect. Respect is communicated in imitation. Every man begins by wanting to be his own man, but if he is to be a Christian man, he must be reborn as a man who wants to be like the men who are more like the Man, Christ Jesus, than himself.