Just an Imitation, Anyway

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

­Mother Teresa

The above was found on Mother Teresa's wall, children's hospital, Calcutta India

In his book, Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis said, “I am what I am before God, No more, No less.” At our best, we are just a poor imitation of Christ. (Man was created in the image of God, the Christian, Christ-like) In zoos, parks, all over the world, I have seen caged animals. One gorilla, known for always walking around the edge, pulling at the bars, trying to escape his cage, one day, found that the keeper had left his door unlocked. The gorilla opened the door of the cage, having been so anxious to escape, walked out, swung around, looked around for a while, an then went back into the cage. On the farm, a pig rooting under the fence, would escape for a while but always find the hole under the fence, and get back in. The chicken might fly over the fence, but always wanted to get back into the chicken yard. We animals love our prisons.

When we leave our “cage”, restrictions of traditions, addictions, dazed-glazed-amazed, now, what would God have me do? We are all prisoners-slaves of one type or another. We usually pick our master... conservative, libertarian, chemical dependence, laziness, ruthlessness, sometimes genetic, almost always learned, a matter of values, self-esteem.

We see things in others which we cannot see in ourselves... attractive or repugnant. A woman will take a magazine with a picture of a movie star to her hairdresser, believing that the hairdresser can make her hair look like that in the picture. The matron wants her dress to fit like the dress on the mannequin in the window. The fat man on the lazy boy, watching basketball on the television can tell Michael Jordan how to play basketball. When we first meet our friend's husband or wife, we wonder what in thew world did he or she see in him or her. But, usually, a divorced person will remarry someone very much like the one divorced. We are all different, yet all the same. I have traveled the world, never seen the statue of a critic, never heard a tribute to a critic. Even under ruthless communism, even in totalitarian China where men and women wear the same type clothing (same pants, shirts, caps-same color, even the same type haircut), they want liberty and individuality. No matter the age-shape-size-race-personality of any individual, all animals respond to one trait, encouragement, even the pet likes a treat for good performance... giving best version of self.

An Indian chief gave an Indian legend that there is a battle that goes on inside every brave. Two wolves at war with one another... “One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego, the other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.” The one who wins the fight-struggle is the one you feed.

This writer, many years traveling the world, every continent, trekking through the ruins of ancient civilizations. Older than Stonehenge and probably the great pyramid in Giza is Gobekli Tepe, Turkey, where marvels of ancient art are found in the temples. It is hard for us to imagine what life was like in these ancient civilizations, even what the people were like. But, we do know that from creation, God instilled a conscience enabling them to get along with one another and create carvings of beauty to share. We have some concept of their religious beliefs before and immediately after Noah's flood. It is with the six empires beginning with the Egyptian and ending with the Roman. Their influence on God's chosen people, the Jews, the occupying and persecution of the Jewish people, leading to the birth of Christianity, that we understand what God is doing in the world that He created, choosing a people for Himself. Paul attempted to interpret the book of Hebrews, (Hebrews 1:3) Cain substituting grace for works. The fact that God is in charge, as shown by His choice of Isaac, Jacob above Esau. (Romans 9:13)

Imitating Christ, building the church, has become so foreign to God's intentions. The devil has real power over the world, hypocrisy makes him happiest, churches becoming beggars, both for worshipers and giving: Just think, begging people to worship, begging people to five to the one they supposedly worship. The preacher, so afraid of offending... more interested in his professional packet than souls... the congregation knowing what is required, (Micah 6:8) yet wanting to believe that God does not really mean what He says. Read the book of Numbers and determine how God deals with people who disobey. This writer is convinced that God requires more of Christians, saved by grace through faith, than Jews living under the curse of the law. Anyway, our only guide is God's Book. There is nothing there to show He is just joking in His expectations of us, now or 12,000 years ago.