{"id":319,"date":"2011-06-13T13:55:12","date_gmt":"2011-06-13T13:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=319"},"modified":"2012-01-23T22:10:36","modified_gmt":"2012-01-23T22:10:36","slug":"the-power-of-imitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=319","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Imitation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Parents beware-your children are watching! At an early age, our kids see us as representing Christ. Of course we are to imitate and reflect Christ. We actually become the intermediary and stepping stone until they are joined to Him.<\/p>\n

A young couple sat in front of us with their one year old son at our church service Saturday night. Perched in the upper balcony, we had a stunning view of the worship team on stage and the audience below participating.<\/p>\n

The father held his infant son in his left arm while raising his right arm to worship while singing. His wife, seated beside him, raised her arms also.<\/p>\n

The young boy noticed what his parents were doing and saw the crowd below demonstrating their devotion in the same way. Suddenly, his arms shot up and held there completely natural, a holy moment. I was awed by the innocence of one so young and yet such a seemingly sincere tribute to our King. I knew that one day soon He would be His too.<\/p>\n

The parents nudged each other and winked. I wish I could have snapped the picture but it will be forever etched in my mind, the power of imitation.<\/p>\n

Ephesians 5:1 \u201cBe imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love…\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Parents beware-your children are watching! At an early age, our kids see us as representing Christ. Of course we are to imitate and reflect Christ. We actually become the intermediary and stepping stone until they are joined to Him. A young couple sat in front of us with their one year old son at our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2399,"url":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=2399","url_meta":{"origin":319,"position":0},"title":"Faith Without Works is Dead","author":"hollysmith","date":"September 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"God is about building character. He gives us a model or example to follow in the stories of the Bible. Sometimes the Patriarch\u2019s mistakes can be the greatest lessons to know what not to do. There comes a time when God tests your love for him just as he did\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"desert road","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hollywsmith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/desert-road-300x202.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1655,"url":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=1655","url_meta":{"origin":319,"position":1},"title":"Upside Down Kingdom-Eternal Perspective","author":"hollysmith","date":"September 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"God is entitled to our praise and honor; man requires humility. Colossians 2:8 says in essence, make sure that you aren\u2019t taken away by tradition, something that has been passed down as a truth or deceived by the culture of the world rather than what Christ says in His word.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"2014_09_27_11_22_05","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hollywsmith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/2014_09_27_11_22_05-201x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1716,"url":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=1716","url_meta":{"origin":319,"position":2},"title":"Healing Part II","author":"hollysmith","date":"January 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"So often we overlook the healing promise of Christ\u2019s atonement. The atonement of Christ includes the provision of supernatural healing, according to Isaiah 53.This promise is often diminished by those who believe that the redemption of Christ is limited to eternal life. 1 Peter 2:24 restates this for emphasis to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"Christ_Healing_the_Sick,_1813,_by_Washington_Allston_(1779-1843)_-_Worcester_Art_Museum_-_IMG_7700-1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hollywsmith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Christ_Healing_the_Sick_1813_by_Washington_Allston_1779-1843_-_Worcester_Art_Museum_-_IMG_7700-1-300x214.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1784,"url":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=1784","url_meta":{"origin":319,"position":3},"title":"Dreams and Their Significance","author":"hollysmith","date":"July 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I was looking through some old dreams and thought it was a good time to bring a few to my blog this month. We would love for you to send a dream you have had and see if we could help shed any light on it. I have always been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"wild hair dreamer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hollywsmith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/wild-hair-dreamer-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2193,"url":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=2193","url_meta":{"origin":319,"position":4},"title":"Embrace Your Thorns","author":"hollysmith","date":"August 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Embracing Your Thorns Humbling ourselves and making the first move to resolve offenses can turn our biggest rival into our greatest cheerleader. What do you have to lose? Often our own pride and caring what others think are obstacles preventing us from doing so. 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The third stream was the local\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hollywsmith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/JesusPlus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=319"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329,"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions\/329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}