More Than Playing Dress-Up

Picture found at: https://girlgloss.com/childrens-dress-up-clothes/

This week is Halloween. (Teachers everywhere just shuddered!) It is usually a difficult week at school as students are excited about the coming fun, and then worn out from it afterward!

I’ve never been one to enjoy the creepy, spooky Halloween traditions. Haunted House? Not for me. Zombie costume? No, thank you.

But trick or treating? That was always fun! Of course, I loved the candy! But what I really enjoyed was the fun of dressing up in a costume and visiting the homes of all our friends and neighbors.

When I had my own children, I really liked finding or making a special costume for them. The boys usually wanted a superhero or favorite character. My daughter always wanted something pretty and sparkly. The more glitter or sequins the better! And she loved to wear makeup with her costumes, too.

It was always special to imitate someone else for an evening - to dress just like that person, to carry props like they had, and to pretend to be them for one night.

I have been reading through Paul’s letters over the last few weeks. In his first letter to the church at Corinth, he writes about how to handle situations where the believers were invited to eat with non-believers who were eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols. He recommends that if someone pointed out that it was an idol sacrifice, then they should not eat it for the sake of that person. But he ends with a statement that makes me pause. Here’s what he writes in 1 Corinthians 10:32-11:1.

32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33 even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

11 1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

Did you catch that? His advice is for the Corinthians to imitate him, as he is trying to imitate Christ. Wow. That hits me hard. Am I confident enough in my Christian walk to encourage others to do as I do? If others were to imitate me, would their actions be Christ-like? Is my life lived to please God and to benefit others that they might be saved?

Paul wrote similar charges in 1 Corinthians 4:

11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.

14 I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. 15 Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
And again in 2 Thessalonians 3:

7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.

No matter who you are, people are watching you each day. When you work around children, you know that they naturally imitate others around them - including you! But it is not just the children who are watching. People with whom I live and work see me and my actions - hear my words and my attitudes - every day. Am I being the example I should be?

I’m trying. But I fail often. I am still a work in progress. But Paul has challenged me to follow Christ so that others are led closer to Him. It’s not exactly a dress-up costume I put on to do this, though. In order to imitate anyone, you have to know them well. That means I must study my Bible constantly and be open to allowing the Holy Spirit to guide me and change me. I must constantly put my faith into action, applying the scripture in my life, putting others before myself, and laying aside my own agenda.

It’s definitely more than playing dress-up for just one night! It’s a life-long commitment that I hope I become better and better at as I go.

Father God, I know I am not confident enough to tell others to imitate me as I try to imitate Christ. Please continue to work in me and around me to make me more like You. I want to be an example for those around me, but when I fail, help me to admit it and try to make it right. Thank You, Jesus, for Your perfect example, for Your Word, and for Your Holy Spirit that helps us along the way!