Insincere Imitation

Have you ever admired or imitated someone for all the wrong reasons? I’m pretty sure you have. It’s a human tendency. Insincere imitation is one of my downfalls. I tend to want to be like someone just because they’re popular, have style or are outwardly beautiful.  Did you ever stop and ponder if the people you are imitating are worthy of such an honor?


First off, let me clear something up; imitation is not bad. Paul said 

“Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” ~1 Corinthians 11:1

The crucial distinction is the object of our imitation. Christ is perfect. Any sincere, noble, and pure imitation of Him cannot possibly cause chaos. Insincere imitation of Christ is where all our problems arise. However, if you flip both of those you also run into issues. I shall explain. Imitating Christ for the wrong reasons is not only foolish, but very dangerous. I’m reminded of the story in Acts 19 when the sons of Sceva take it “upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits.” They ended up naked and wounded. I don’t know their motives, but I assume it was to bring glory to themselves. Now, if you imitate something or someone of the world you will end up unhappy and insecure in who you are based upon God’s Word. George Santayana said this about fashion, “Fashion is something barbarous, for it produces innovation without reason and imitation without benefit.”


You may be wondering what this all has to do with the obscurely obvious theme. Here ‘tis. How many of us openly declare that we are imitating someone (besides Christ)? Most of the time, we do it in discrete ways that are obvious to us, but obscure to most of the world. Sometimes we even try to cover it up that we are imitating them. I’ll give you a very personal example. I have the greatest older sisters in the world. They buy me things, take me places, stay up late with me and even watch movies that they don’t really like, just because I want to. Before this moment, this was an obscure fact about myself: I want to be just like them. I want to help people the way they do every day. To everyone else, I tried to cover it up. I get frustrated when people ask me if I’m going to be a nurse (since one of my sisters is a nurse and the other is in nursing school). I talk about being my own person, yet I want to do what they do, just like they do it. (If you are confused by this, you aren’t the only one. I don’t understand it myself most of the time, which makes me increasingly grateful that God understands me). That’s something obscurely obvious about myself.  I had a case of insincere imitation. I am happy to report that God is working in my life so that I can overcome this. He is helping me to be content, and He continues to remind me that someday it will be my turn to help the world. For now, I want to be a person that can say, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” I want to be someone that girls younger than I can sincerely imitate, while following God’s specific plans for each of our lives. I encourage you to imitate Christ first and foremost, find godly individuals that are worthy of imitation and be a person that is worth imitating.

Cheerfully Compliant,

Lydia 

Fantastic Friendship

I've decided each post will have an alliteration for a title, at least one alliteration in the post and one Obscurely Obvious fact in it, so here goes: I just got back from a short but extremely enjoyable visit with some friends. It is amazing to be in the presence of people who know you and who understand you (in all areas except a love of school ;-)) Yet, have you ever thought that while you are here on earth with humans there are things that no one else, (maybe not even yourself) knows about you? There are incredible intricacies that only God knows. He created us, He knows our hearts and has hidden some things for us to find, and some things that we may not know until we get to Heaven. That's the "obscure" part. Now for the "obvious". I believe that everything around us, this life we lead, this "play day on a spinning mud-ball", is a small glimpse into eternity. Think about it, we are made in the image of God, God created the heavens and the earth, should it not follow that there are similarities? Here's the short of it. God made things obscurely obvious. He made Heaven as the ultimate model, but He made it obscure in the sense that we can't obtain it or see it at present (if you can, I would like the hear about it :-)). He gave us earth as our obvious. We can see it and obtain it, but its not our end, nor is it complete. However, at the end of all things, obscure and obvious will flip. For all those who believe in Jesus Christ, Heaven will become obvious and earth will quickly fade into obscurity. I guess what I am essentially trying to say is, Heaven is generally obscure and earth is generally obvious, yet there is coming a time when that will reverse.

I hope you have a better picture of what I see as Obscurely Obvious and what to expect in the future. Please comment and let me know if you agree, disagree or have any additional thoughts.

Thank you for your time.

Cheerfully compliant,

Lydia

The Obscurely Obvious

Here I am. Starting another blog after I assured myself I would never do it again. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that this blog will turn out much better than the others. I have a renewed desire to glorify God in everything, an accelerated ambition and some mistakes that supply me with my share of learning material.

I'm sure everyone out there is wondering what in the world my title means. Approximately half an hour ago, I decided to make another blog. "Obscurely Obvious" declared itself immediately in my mind as the title for my blog. An estimated seven and three fourths seconds elapsed until I started thinking. There are so many things in life that are obscurely obvious. (Books, for one. Hence, my template) I will post more on this subject when I myself have a better grasp on it. For now, I hope you will comment and tell me if you have an idea about what "obscurely obvious" is. Please return! :-)