A Life Close Enough to Imitate
“I urge you, then, be imitators of me.”
1 Corinthians 4:16 · ESV
It can feel easier to recommend a book than to invite someone into an ordinary Tuesday. A book has been edited. Tuesday includes the interrupted plan, the unanswered message, and the moment we discover how little patience we brought home. Yet Paul’s invitation puts a life within reach of the people he teaches.
Over the last two issues we considered the pattern of sound words and the Spirit’s help in guarding the good deposit. Here is a related question of practice. What we pass on needs to be visible in the person passing it on. Paul does not send the Corinthians a lesson and withdraw behind it. He offers himself as an example they can follow.
That might sound like self-promotion until we read the surrounding verses. Paul has described the apostles enduring hardship and answering mistreatment without retaliation. He then addresses the Corinthians as his beloved children and reminds them that he became their father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. His appeal comes from costly, fatherly care, not a claim to celebrity.
Then comes Timothy. In verse 17, Paul explains that he is sending Timothy “to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.” The life and the teaching belong together. Timothy can help them remember a pattern of conduct, not merely a collection of sentences.
For us, the invitation need not begin with a dramatic testimony. It might begin by taking someone along when we serve a neighbor, letting him hear us pray about a real uncertainty, or telling him why we need to make an apology. These are opportunities to show how the gospel bears on a decision. They are not performances arranged to make us look mature.
There is a difference between being available for questions and making room for someone to learn beside us. A regular conversation matters. So does the unhurried hour in which a younger believer sees how we respond when things do not go our way. We can explain our choices, admit where we were wrong, and return together to Scripture.
We do not become worthy of imitation by pretending we no longer need grace. Christ’s saving work is the foundation of our life with God, and our example cannot replace it. A disciplemaker who acknowledges sin and seeks forgiveness helps another believer see what dependence on Christ looks like. Concealing every weakness teaches a very different lesson.
So choose one small part of your actual week to share. Leave room for the other man to notice, to ask, and eventually to practice. The aim is someone growing in faith and obedience to Christ, with enough access to your life to see that you are still learning too.
This Week
What ordinary part of your week could you invite your Timothy into so he can see you practice the faith you talk about?
Go Deeper
Imitators of Paul
Tabletalk, Ligonier Ministries. A short devotional on 1 Corinthians 4:16–17, Timothy’s role, and seeking godly examples to follow.
In Principle, How Does Discipleship Work?
9Marks. A brief explanation of how instruction and imitation, grounded in love, shape a younger believer.
Arrogance or Responsibility?
Matt Rogers (The Gospel Coalition). Why Paul’s call to imitation is a responsibility rooted in union with Christ, not pride.
Next week: the gospel is not the diving board — why maturity means going deeper into grace, not past it.
Lee Truax
President, DiscipleMaking Mission
