Children are great imitators. They want to do what they see grown-ups do. Most of the toys they enjoy are replicas of things big people use. From toy telephones to tea sets, dolls, cars, and even play thermometers and hypodermic needles, children love to pretend by copying adult actions.

Our little granddaughter is just 1 1/2 years old, and at that tender age she loves to type on her toy typewriter just as she sees her mother doing. Little girls like to imitate mommie, and little boys try to do the things they see their daddy do. Adults and especially parents, have a great responsibility because others are watching and copying.

Much of our preaching about right living is lost if others observe us doing the opposite of what we say. We want to teach our children to always tell the truth, but if they observe one parent answering the phone and saying that someone is out when he is in, the child will remember that more than a thousand lectures on telling the truth.

There is an old saying, ”What you are is hollering so loud I can’t hear what you are saying.”

The practice of copying others is not limited to childhood. In fact, the clothing fashions of the world are built on the principle of imitation. Women discard perfectly good dresses and go out and buy new ones simply because everyone else is now wearing long skirts or pant suits or whatever else is now in style. Men are not immune to this desire to copy the ”in” thing either. First neckties are wide, then they are narrow, and then wide again.

Since it is a normal thing to copy others, let us make sure that we choose with care those we copy. This is one of the problems of today. There is so much crime, so much loose living, and so little regard for what is right that more young people are copying the wrong things because they are so much more evident. One of the greatest curses of our age is the television because it visually popularizes and glorifies all the things God abhors. If little ones grow up watching their heroes do violent things is it any wonder we have so much juvenile delinquency?

Twice Paul exhorts the Corinthians to follow him. He says, ”Be ve followers of me even as I also am of Christ.” We must resist the temptation to follow those around us. Again Paul instructs the Corinthians and us saying, ”We dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

If we compare ourselves with the world around us we may think that we are not so bad. Paul’s point is that we must compare ourselves to the perfect measure, to Christ. When we do this we all fall woefully short. This should cause us to be humble. Evidently some in Corinth became puffed up when they compared themselves with their worldly neighbors and began to commend themselves. Paul’s advice was, ”Not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.” Let us seek the commendation of God by being followers of His dear son. Although we will fail to measure up to his standard, yet God’s mercy will make up our lack if we seek him with all our heart. If we try our best to follow Christ now. we have the promise that one day soon we shall be like him. As we often sing, ”We shall be like him. 0 how rich the promise, what greater could our Father’s love prepare?”