1 Thes. 1:6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord... 1 Thes. 2:9~10 For you remember, brothers, our labor and travail: While working night and day so as not to be burdensome to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, as well as God, how in a holy and righteous and blameless manner we conducted ourselves toward you who believe,
If you consider the situation among believers today, you will realize that many Christians have no sense of direction. The reason for this lack of direction is that they do not have a proper pattern. We need to be a pattern to others and foster them, cherishing them as mothers and exhorting them as fathers to walk worthily of God.
In 1 Thessalonians 2, Paul gives a strong testimony of his living among the Thessalonians. He reminds them of the apostles coming and of their manner of life among them. Why did Paul emphasize this?
He emphasized it because he was presenting a pattern of a proper living to the young saints. I hope that all the elders and leading ones will see from Paul's example that we must be a pattern to the saints. Imitating is related to growing.
In fact, in many ways to imitate is to grow. In a family children imitate their parents and older brothers and sisters. The little ones do not invent anything; instead, they imitate others.
A very good illustration of this is in the use of language. A child learns the language spoken by his parents. He speaks the same language with the same accent.
A child learns the language and the accent by imitation. This illustrates the fact that children grow by imitating their parents. Therefore, in a family to imitate actually means to grow.
Parents are patterns, models, for their children.