While shopping earlier today, my Mom commented on the strength with which I picked up some groceries. I replied that I am strong partly because I act like I'm strong. Mom said that that sounded like something I could blog about, and I believe that she was right.
When you exercise something, it gets stronger. When you practice doing something, you get better at it. the more you use a trait or talent you have, the more pronounced that trait or talent becomes. So if you want to develop a certain attribute, be it a Christlike attribute or any other kind of characteristic, one way to develop that attribute is to act as though you already have it.
This doesn't mean to pretend, but to practice. When I balance and jump around for fun, as I sometimes do, I'm not pretending to be more agile or acrobatic than I am; I'm just exercising, and thus increasing, the agility I really have. If you want to become physically stronger, you should exercise, perhaps with weights, but you shouldn't try to use more strength than you have. It can be dangerous to overwork your muscles. It's also dishonest to pretend to possess traits that you don't actually have. So while you exercise and practice traits that you want to develop, you should try not to give people the wrong impression by pretending to be better than you are.
Yesterday, I talked about getting into the character of Jesus Christ. None of us are perfectly Christlike, and we certainly shouldn't pretend to be, but we should all try to act with patience, honor, humility, charity, and all the other Christlike attributes. The more we act with those attributes, the more we'll come to possess them. Acting with strength and dexterity is helping me stay strong and dexterous. Acting with goodness and love could do the same thing. I am certainly not perfectly Christlike as I am right now, but I know that the more a person acts like Jesus Christ, the more Christlike that person will become.
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