Summary
Unique, Yet Called to Imitate
Scripture is emphatic that every human being is a one-of-a-kind creation of God. "We are the clay, and you are our potter" Isaiah 64:8; "you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb" Psalm 139:13; "before I formed you in the womb I knew you" Jeremiah 1:5. Introvert or extrovert, quietly gifted or boldly so, each believer bears a stamp that God will never duplicate. And yet alongside this unrepeatable individuality, Scripture also calls us to something that may at first sound contrary: to imitate.
Paul writes to the new Christians in Thessalonica—the administrative capital of Macedonia, evangelized by Paul, Silas, and Timothy in Acts 17—rejoicing that they are holding firm. He thanks God for their "work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ" 1 Thessalonians 1:3. Faith is God's work in them; love is what that faith looks like when it acts; hope is biblical confidence anchored in Christ. Paul reminds them too that this all goes back further than their conversion—God chose them in Christ before the foundation of the world Ephesians 1:4.
What changed them? Paul says the gospel came "not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction" 1 Thessalonians 1:5. The Greek word for power is dynamis—the root of "dynamite." The gospel is not mere information; it is an active word that breaks open hardened hearts, creates faith, and brings the Spirit in. Paul is not ashamed of it, "for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" Romans 1:16. But the missionaries did not only preach; they lived what they preached. The Thessalonians watched lives transformed by Christ, and then, Paul writes, "you became imitators of us and of the Lord" 1 Thessalonians 1:6.
Honesty requires us to admit that we do not always imitate the best examples, and we are not always the best to be imitated. We can copy the selfishness of Adam and Eve more readily than the holiness of Christ. We can fall into "do as I say, not as I do." This is precisely why Paul's invitation in Philippians 3:17 is framed by his confession a few verses earlier: "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own" Philippians 3:12. When Paul says, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" 1 Corinthians 11:1, he is calling us to imitate his pursuit, not a perfection he never claimed. Every Christian, this side of heaven, remains a work in progress.
The grace that makes such pursuit possible was purchased at the cross. Jesus bore every sin, including our neglect of godly examples set before us, our preaching without practicing, our hollow promises to "be like Him" while our lives drift elsewhere. He paid the debt we could not pay, and from that finished work flows both our forgiveness and the Spirit's ongoing transformation in us.
The result, in Thessalonica and now, is a quiet evangelism of life: "you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia... your faith in God has gone forth everywhere" 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8. The dynamite of the gospel that birthed their faith also birthed their imitable life. God is not finished with us yet, but by His grace and power He is making each of His unique children worthy of being imitated. That is the whole movement traced in "Imitate" 5-11-25: unique by creation, chosen before time, awakened by the gospel's power, and slowly, surely, conformed to Christ.
Video citations
- "Imitate" 5-11-25 — Would you open your Bibles, please, with me to first thisologians the first chapter. If you're using a Pew edition of Holy Scripture, you're going to find that in the New Testament, page 179. First,…