Becoming What We Behold: The True Imitation of Christ
A Fellowship Discussion Essay
Based on “True Imitation of Christ” by David Torkington
The Imaginative Conservative, February 28, 2026
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2026/02/true-imitation-christ-david-torkington.html
The Henry V Insight
David Torkington opens with a story that illuminates everything that follows. As a young man, he was cast as Henry V in Shakespeare’s play. The dress rehearsal was a disaster. But moments before the crucial “Once more unto the breach” scene, his English master pulled him aside and said: “Forget about that pathetic little performance last night; this is the real thing. This is not a stage, it’s a battlefield. These are your men who are tired and exhausted… Get out there, rouse them up, and rally them for one more attack.”
What happened next was not acting. For fifteen minutes, Torkington was not performing Henry V—he was inhabited by the spirit of England’s warrior king. The inspiration his teacher communicated transformed him from the inside out.
This theatrical experience became the key to Torkington’s entire understanding of the spiritual life: You cannot truly become like someone by copying their external behavior. You can only become like them by being animated by the same spirit that animated them.
The Failure of External Imitation
This insight cuts against much of what passes for Christian discipleship. We read the Gospels and try to copy what Jesus did:
- He served others, so we volunteer at the soup kitchen
- He spoke truth to power, so we post our opinions boldly
- He showed compassion, so we try to be nice
- He forgave enemies, so we say “I forgive you” through gritted teeth
None of this is wrong. But if this is all we do, we are like the young Torkington at the dress rehearsal—going through the motions, performing a role, producing disaster.
The problem is not that we’re aiming too high. The problem is that we’re starting in the wrong place.
Thomas à Kempis, in The Imitation of Christ, understood this. His classic devotional work—the most widely read Christian book after the Bible—does not primarily focus on copying Christ’s external actions. It focuses on the interior life: “Helpful Counsels of the Spiritual Life,” “Directives for the Interior Life,” “On Interior Consolation.” The imitation begins inside.
As Torkington puts it: “There is only one way to copy Christ and that is not by trying to copy his outward behaviour, but by trying to allow the same love that continually animated him to flow into us to animate and inspire us in all we say and do.”
The Flow of Divine Love
Torkington traces the flow of love that makes true imitation possible:
- Throughout his earthly life, Christ continually opened himself to be inspired by his Father’s love—the Holy Spirit who conceived him and inspired everything he said and did.
- At his death, that love was brought to perfection through total self-giving.
- In his resurrection and ascension, that same love reunited him with his Father.
- At Pentecost and ever since, the Father sends that love out through the risen Christ onto and into us.
This is the crucial point: The love flowing into us now is the same love that flowed into Jesus during his earthly ministry. We are not trying to generate Christ-like love from our own resources. We are receiving the very love that made Christ’s life possible.
“The love that continually flows out of the Risen Lord to fill us now, is the same love that flowed into him throughout his life on earth. It is the same love that was brought to perfection after his death, and the same love that reunited him with his Father.”
The Spiritual Life Defined
What, then, is “the spiritual life”? Torkington defines it precisely:
“The spiritual life is the expression used to describe a new way of life in which we start turning towards God regularly to receive his love that comes to us through Jesus, to make us like him in every possible way.”
Notice the elements:
- A new way of life — not just new behaviors, but a different mode of existence
- Turning towards God regularly — consistent, intentional orientation
- Receiving his love — not generating it, but opening to receive it
- Through Jesus — the risen Christ is the channel
- To make us like him — transformation into Christ-likeness is the goal
This is why prayer is not optional for Christians. It is not merely talking to God or asking for things. It is the practice of turning toward God to receive the love that transforms us. Without this regular turning, we have no access to the animating Spirit that made Jesus who he was.
The Portrait Camera Image
Torkington offers a beautiful image from his father’s photography equipment. The camera showed two images when focusing: one clear, one transparent and wraith-like. By turning a dial, the two images would draw closer together until they merged into one perfectly focused picture.
“This is what happens when we keep turning to God to receive his love that purifies us, sometimes in darkness, sometimes in light. Gradually we are made sufficiently like Christ to be united with him more effectively, more completely, more perfectly than ever before.”
We start as that wraith-like second image—bearing Christ’s image but vaguely, transparently, incompletely. Through the regular practice of receiving divine love, we are gradually brought into alignment, into focus, until the two images become one.
This is not magic. It is not instant. It takes “many years trudging on in the Dark Night where true selfless loving is learned.” But it is real transformation, not mere behavioral modification.
The Two Commandments Revisited
Jesus summarized the law in two commandments: love God completely, love neighbor as yourself. But Torkington notes that in the New Testament—specifically at the Last Supper—the second commandment becomes more demanding: “we must now learn to love our neighbour as Christ himself loves us.”
This is impossible on our own. We cannot love as Christ loves through willpower, technique, or moral effort. “This is impossible unless we have allowed the same Spirit who animated Christ to animate us too so that his love can do for others through us, what we can never do alone.”
Here is the liberation in Torkington’s vision: The goal is not to try harder to love like Jesus. The goal is to receive the love that made Jesus’ love possible, and let that love flow through us to others.
The pressure shifts. We are not the source; we are the channel. Our job is not to generate Christ-like love but to remain open to receive it and willing to let it flow through us.
The Dark Night
Torkington does not minimize the difficulty. He speaks of “the Dark Night” where purification occurs—sometimes painfully, sometimes in spiritual dryness, sometimes over many years.
He quotes Ignatius: “to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labour and not to ask for rewards, except to know that I am doing your will.”
And he offers Newman’s wisdom: “I do not ask to see the distant scene; one step enough for me.”
True transformation is not a weekend seminar. It is a lifelong journey through territory we cannot fully see. But the promise sustains the journey: “moments of light do penetrate the darkness, sometimes like moonlight, sometimes like dawn light, sometimes like sunlight, sometimes like lightning, to give us hope that the One who dwells in light inaccessible is guiding us to the place where God our Father is waiting to enfold us in his infinite loving.”
Discussion Questions for Fellowship
- The Henry V moment: Has there been a time in your life when you felt “inhabited” by something greater than yourself—when you did something you couldn’t have done on your own? What enabled that?
- External vs. internal imitation: Where have you been trying to copy Christ’s external behavior without first receiving the animating Spirit? What would it look like to shift your focus?
- Regular turning: Torkington emphasizes “turning towards God regularly to receive his love.” What practices help you do this? What obstacles make it difficult?
- The portrait camera image: Do you sense yourself coming “into focus” over time—becoming more aligned with Christ? Or does growth feel more chaotic or invisible?
- Receiving vs. generating: How would your spiritual life change if you truly believed your job was to receive divine love rather than generate Christ-like behavior?
- The Dark Night: Torkington speaks of “many years trudging on in the Dark Night.” Have you experienced seasons of spiritual dryness or darkness? How did you (or how do you) persevere?
- Loving as Christ loves: The New Testament command is to love others as Christ loves us—not merely as we love ourselves. What’s the difference? Why does this require receiving Christ’s Spirit rather than just trying harder?
A Closing Meditation
The young actor standing in the wings was incapable of being Henry V. His dress rehearsal proved it. But when his teacher’s words ignited something within him, he stopped performing and started being.
We stand in similar wings. We are incapable of being Christ-like through our own effort. Our “dress rehearsals”—our attempts at Christian behavior through willpower alone—prove it daily.
But we have more than an English master’s inspiring words. We have the risen Christ, continually pouring out the same Spirit that animated his earthly life, offering to animate ours.
The question is not “Can I act like Jesus?” The question is “Am I regularly turning to receive the love that made Jesus who he was?”
When we do, we are not acting. It is, as Torkington’s teacher said, “the real thing.”
“Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be the one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him…. and we shall come to him and make our home with him.”
— John 14:21-24
Source: David Torkington, “True Imitation of Christ,” The Imaginative Conservative, February 28, 2026. This essay is chapter forty-two of The Primacy of Loving.
Living in the Spirit: Imitation, Israel, and the Instruments of Grace
A Reflection on the Renaissance Ministries Fellowship Discussion
March 1, 2026
The Renaissance Ministries fellowship gathered this Sunday morning with hearts full and topics ranging from the mystical to the political, from personal testimony to technological vision. What emerged was a tapestry of seeking—believers wrestling together with how to actually live the Christian life, not as theory but as daily reality.
The Henry V Insight: Receiving Before Doing
Leonard opened by reflecting on David Torkington’s essay “True Imitation of Christ,” which had circulated earlier that week. The essay’s central image—a young actor transformed from disaster to triumph when his teacher’s words ignited him with the spirit of Henry V—became the touchstone for the morning’s discussion.
“We need to not try to create it ourselves,” Leonard observed, “but to depend on that love that is permeating the universe.”
This insight reframes the entire Christian project. We cannot generate Christ-likeness through effort. We cannot manufacture charity. We cannot will ourselves into holiness. Instead, we must receive the same Spirit that animated Jesus and allow that Spirit to animate us.
Leonard connected this to near-death experiences, where virtually every person reports being overwhelmed by indescribable love upon leaving the body. “That’s the first thing they express,” he noted. This love is real, it permeates reality, and it is available—if we learn to tap into it rather than trying to produce it ourselves.
The fellowship agreed: this was not merely good theology but essential practice. As Leonard put it, “It’s not any of us, by ourselves, individually. We have to become one with Christ, who then will make us one with the Father, which is the source of the love.”
Armond’s Testimony: A Taste of What’s Possible
The discussion took a deeply personal turn when Armond shared his experience of actually living in the state Torkington described—a period when he was profoundly present to God in every moment.
“I remember every day when I read the Bible, I finished reading in tears,” Armond recounted. “Throughout my whole day, I was just experiencing—the smallest interaction with people would touch me all the way to my soul. In every experience, I felt like I was doing it in the full presence of God.”
This was not theory. This was testimony. Armond had tasted what the article described—life animated by the Spirit, where ordinary moments become encounters with the divine.
But his testimony included a sobering element: that state was “fleeting.” And pursuing it had cost him relationally. “None of my family wanted to be around me. They all thought I was crazy, having a nervous breakdown.” Even now, he said, “I’m still experiencing the fallout.”
This raised the central practical question: How do we pursue that level of spiritual intensity while remaining functional fathers, husbands, workers, friends? How do we live in the Spirit without alienating everyone around us?
Thomas offered a realistic perspective: “Most of life will not be like that. It’ll be houses and dirt.” The majority of existence is ordinary—the spiritual equivalent of rehearsal rather than performance. Perhaps the goal is not constant peak experience but faithful practice, with occasional moments of grace that remind us what’s possible.
Isak extended the analogy: “You don’t enter the flow state so that you can practice guitar. You’re spending countless hours putting notes together, and after so much work, sometimes you enter this moment where there’s no disconnect.” The spiritual life follows the same pattern. Practice, practice, practice—and occasionally, breakthrough.
The Israel Question: Why Does This Tiny Nation Generate Such Passion?
The fellowship then turned to a topic that generates heat wherever it’s discussed: Israel, the Jews, and why this tiny nation provokes such an outsized reaction.
The conversation revealed the diversity of perspectives even within a small Christian fellowship. Leonard raised concerns about conflating “Israel” (twelve tribes) with “Jews” (one tribe), and questioned whether the modern state’s leadership truly represents biblical Israel. Others pushed back.
But the deeper question emerged: Why does this matter so much to so many people?
Charlie put it starkly: “There’s less Jews than there are Mormons. Why are they such a target? Why can’t they be left alone?”
Thomas offered his analysis: “The only thing that’s common is there’s something about the Jews that is really bad that we don’t like, and we’re going to get rid of them. The thing I see is there’s something about the Jews that God really likes—not a little, really likes.”
He pointed to the scriptural promises: “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” And he suggested this operates personally, not just nationally: “I think there’s a benefit in a person’s heart that comes from blessing Israel, whatever that means. To not bless Israel, to hate Israel, I think is to call down a curse on oneself.”
Charlie reflected on what the Jewish people have contributed despite their suffering: “They brought us this book. They wrote it, they preserved it, and the world would be profoundly dark without it.”
Susan added a prophetic perspective: Scripture suggests Gentiles will turn to Christ first in great numbers, then Israel will follow. “The last shall be first, the first shall be last.” Rather than judging Israel, perhaps the focus should be on Gentiles doing their part—turning fully to Christ—which may eventually draw Israel as well.
The fellowship noted encouraging signs: the growth of Messianic Jews (from 12 at Israel’s founding to over 50,000 today), testimonies from organizations like “One for Israel,” and reports of Christ appearing in dreams to Jewish people as He has to Muslims.
No consensus was reached—nor was one expected. But the discussion modeled what the fellowship values: wrestling honestly with difficult topics, extending charity to those who see differently, and seeking the sacred thread even in controversial territory.
The Christos AI Vision: Technology in Service of Transformation
Thomas introduced the fellowship to the Christos AI project he and Isak have been developing—a family of AI tools designed to help people encounter Christ in every dimension of life.
“We’ve gotten up to nine different modules,” Thomas explained. Each addresses a different aspect of existence: counseling, group fellowship, political discernment, diagnostic skill development, Scripture study, health stewardship, public conversation, education, and even the physics of divine consciousness.
Isak described the specific tool he’s been building: a way for users to evaluate their beliefs on various topics and then compare their positions against biblical standards and other worldviews. The goal is not to tell people what to think but to help them understand why they think what they think—and whether their positions align with Scripture.
Susan raised the essential caution: AI is a tool, not a replacement for the Holy Spirit. “The AI doesn’t have access to the Spirit of God… We are the ones who are conduits with the Holy Spirit.”
Isak agreed: “If listening to God in the future looks like looking at an app, then we’re doing it wrong.” The technology can be “a learning tool, but it’s not going to tell us how to live.” The human participant remains “the vital element.”
This reflects the “training wheels” philosophy underlying the Christos project: technology that builds spiritual independence rather than creating new dependencies. The goal is people who no longer need the tools because they’ve internalized the methods and developed direct relationship with God.
Remembering Christ: The Key to Everything
Leonard returned to the practical center: How do we actually live this? He pointed to the sacrament prayers in his tradition, which include the phrase “always remember him.”
“If we can get to a point in our lives where the first thing on our mind is our desire to know God and to remember him, everything else takes ancillary place. You still have to make a living, buy groceries, interact with people—but if you have your heart centered on Christ, if you remember him always, his Spirit will be with you.”
He read from 2 Nephi, describing how the ancient believers “talked of Christ, rejoiced in Christ, preached of Christ, prophesied of Christ”—not as external religious performance but as the natural expression of hearts fixed on Him.
“If we were to take that and apply it to us… if we could be alive in Christ because of our faith, and talk of him and rejoice and preach and prophesy and write, then our children will know.”
This, he suggested, is how transformation happens—not through effort to be good, but through persistent focus on Christ. “I think by remembering him, we can have his Spirit with us all the time.”
The Eye of Faith: Seeing Before Seeing
Leonard shared a passage about “the eye of faith”—the capacity to see spiritual realities before they manifest visibly:
“The faith to see precedes seeing… Unless a person sees things through the eyes of faith as a necessary first step, he cannot behold the real thing. The one qualifies for the other.”
This connects to everything discussed: Armond’s experience of grace was a taste of what becomes possible when faith develops sufficiently. The Christos tools are instruments to help people see with the eye of faith. The blessing of Israel is an act of faith in God’s promises even when circumstances seem to argue against them.
Faith is not passive belief. It is active seeing—perceiving reality as God declares it to be, even before physical evidence confirms it. And that seeing, practiced persistently, eventually opens the door to direct experience.
Closing Reflection: A Mutual Improvement Society
Charlie named what this fellowship gathering represents: “A mutual improvement society… We’re trying to figure out, how do we take the book and make it real. What’s the real-life application?”
That’s what happened this morning. The fellowship examined an essay about receiving the Spirit rather than manufacturing virtue. They heard testimony of what that reception actually feels like. They wrestled with a politically charged topic and sought the sacred thread. They explored how technology might serve transformation without replacing the Spirit. And they returned, again and again, to the center: remembering Christ, receiving His love, and allowing that love to flow through ordinary life.
No one left with all answers. But everyone left having sought together—which is itself a form of worship.
As Susan prayed in closing: “We are really interested in serving you, and we want your guidance in that… Please bless us, guide us, direct us, redirect us when we need that.”
The fellowship continues. The seeking continues. And the Spirit, as promised, was present.
“Always remember him and keep his commandments… and he will always be with you.”
Participants: Thomas Abshier, Leonard Hofheins, Charlie Gutierrez, Armond Boulware, Isak Gutierrez, Susan Gutierrez, Debbie Hofheins
Topics Covered:
- David Torkington’s “True Imitation of Christ”
- Living in the Spirit vs. performing Christian behavior
- Personal testimony of extended grace experience
- Israel, Jews, and the blessing/curse dynamic
- Messianic Jewish movement and “One for Israel”
- Christos AI project and its nine modules
- Technology as tool vs. replacement for the Spirit
- The eye of faith and seeing before seeing
- Remembering Christ as the key to spiritual life