Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but imitate what is good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. 3rd John 11 

     Who is your hero? Most of us think that this is a question only for children and comic books. It’s not. The question probes our adult ideals. When we think of those we admire – those we might call our heroes – we identify the lives we envy and hope to emulate. If my ideal is Gandhi, then his non-violent approach to conflict resolution and injustice is a guiding principle for my own preference for dealing with those things in my own life. If, on the other hand, my ideal is a pro wrestler, then my approach to conflict resolution will likely be a violent one.
     We align our lives according to our ideals.
     St. John tells us that we cannot hold as an ideal what we haven’t seen. To imitate the good we must first see the good. He isn’t talking about a physical sight. He is speaking of what we have experienced of God. The New Testament shares ideas about God from the perspective of the shared experience of God in Jesus Christ. These shared experiences are then shaped by reflection on the truths about God from the Scriptures (Old Testament) and the history of God’s faithfulness to God’s people. When we “see” God, we experience and reflect on the presence of God and what we can know of the character of God.
For the disciple of Jesus of Nazareth, our veneration of Jesus is also the source of our desire to live according to his character and teaching, Jesus is our ideal – or hero, if you will. Our approach to life, conflict and peace, blessing and tragedy, is aligned to our understanding of Jesus Christ and his response to those things. When that happens, John tells us, we will do the good; we will strive to imitate good.
     This is not a demand for perfection – which is so often how we hear this teaching. Instead, it is an invitation to a life perspective or orientation. We strive to align ourselves with what will be ultimately good for ourselves and others. This is a wonderful prescription for health and joy – which is the promise, isn’t it?
                   Lord Jesus, align my life to your good that I might reap the fruits of joy and peace and be a blessing to others. Amen