Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Learning

Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Learning

I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished. John 5:19-20

In medical school, the attending physician is considered a god by the residents, interns, and medical students. More than just a mentor, the attending physician teaches what it means to be a doctor—how to behave in various situations and even how to have fun. I remember trying to absorb as much wisdom and knowledge as I could from the attending physician during my time in medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

One day when I was leaving class, an older doctor came tottering down the hallway, and the students who greeted him did so in an almost reverential way.

“Who’s that?” I asked an older student.

“He was Dr. Harrison’s protégé.”

We all knew who Dr. Harrison was. He had retired shortly before I began my medical school studies at UAB and had died not long after that, but Dr. Harrison’s legacy lived on through the doctors he had mentored. He also continued to influence thousands of young doctors as the author of one of our textbooks, Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine.

While at UAB, he guided the young medical school students as if they were his own children. He was not only a teacher, but also an advocate for patients.

But as accomplished as Dr. Harrison was, he had also been mentored by someone. In his case, it was his father, a country doctor who also practiced in Alabama. The elder Dr. Harrison had studied under Dr. Osler, whose famous quote was, “Listen to your patient, he is telling you the diagnosis.”

Those of us who are Christian doctors have another mentor as well. By reading the Bible, we can see how Jesus cared for those who were sick and hurting. He’s the best teacher for us to model our lives and our practices after.

TODAY’S RX

See one, do one, teach one is a model followed in the medical profession, but we can all do the same thing. Whom have you watched to get better? How can you do what they did? And how can you help someone else get better?

Father, thank you for teaching me through your Word and through the work of your Son, Jesus Christ. May I always look to you for wisdom and direction.