“Also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:6)

There are two ways Christians walk with Christ. 1) They follow (accompany) Him, and 2) they imitate Him. Anyone can imitate Christ, but only saints can follow Christ. He said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).

Following Christ is taught in the vast majority of Scriptures, while imitating Christ is taught in just four scriptures. For example, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). A few times saints are told to imitate Christ, but the rest of the time they’re told “he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). The Greek word translated “worthy” is axios, which is where we get the word axiom, meaning “self-evident truth”. If you don’t follow (accompany) Christ, you don’t belong to Him.

“Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow (accompany) His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). It’s only possible to follow Jesus in His footsteps by the indwelling Holy Spirit, because it’s a spiritual walk, not merely a soulish walk, and  “the natural (soulish) man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Saints are told, don’t walk “according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:14). “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).

Unfortunately, many church-goers can only imitate Christ, because they don’t know Him. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of Heaven … I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).