If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. A copy, model, or replica. As believers, we are to follow the example of Christ, becoming more and more like Him in attitude and action. To imitate someone is to copy his or her actions as closely as possible. It is to model our lives after the characteristics of someone we look up to.
Children imitate their parents.
Consciously or not, they pick up from Mom and Dad a way of speaking, walking, and relating to people. Through what the parents do and say, the children learn how to respond to the many circumstances of life. If Dad comes home and kicks the dog, his child may think that's acceptable behavior and do the same. And if Dad is careful to be absolutely honest in all his conversations and dealings, then the child often will pick that up too. As children of God through faith in Christ, we are to imitate Christ.