Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.
Ephesians 5:1Ephesians 5:1
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
5 1 Do as God does. After all, you are his dear children.
WP-Bible plugin
Children love to imitate their parents. They will clomp around the house in their parents shoes. Little girls watch their mothers applying make up while little boys study their fathers shaving. Imitating our earthly parents comes naturally, but imitating our Heavenly Father can seem an order too tall to fill. How can we imitate a perfect, sinless God?
As a young adult I thought about this a lot and even justified my sins at times because I was, after all, only human. How could God understand how hard it was to live a Christian life when we are only limited humans?
I finally realized that if I truly believed that God the Father and Christ were One, then I couldn’t use this rationalization. When Christ walked the face of this earth He was tempted in every area of His life just as we are, yet He never sinned. He certainly did not live a protected, secluded life either. He was most often found in gatherings that included a multitude and variety of sinners. Ample opportunities abounded for Him to sin, yet He never did. He was 100 percent God so He was perfect and sinless BUT He was also 100 percent human, so could He have sinned? Definitely. Satan realized that or he wouldn’t have wasted his time in the desert trying to persuade Christ to fall.
So what kept Christ on the straight and narrow? I truly believe that love was the key to His sinless perfection. “And live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:2Ephesians 5:2
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
2 ; . Let love be your guide. Christ loved us j us: Some manuscripts have “you.” and offered his life for us as a sacrifice that pleases God.
WP-Bible plugin)
He knew that our forgiveness hinged on a sinless sacrifice being offered on our behalf. Christ loved us more than He loved Himself. And therein lies the key. Almost every sin we ever commit will be due to our loving our own flesh more than we love God at that moment. It is hard to admit, especially when we realize that makes it a form of idolatry.
In order to imitate God, we must imitate Christ. In order to imitate Christ, we must love Him and others more than we love ourselves. This love must be more than nice words and affection. It must be self-sacrificing service in order to be effective. This means daily dying to self.
The miracle in this is that only in dying daily can we ever truly live an abundant, fulfilled, and joyous life – the life God always intended for us.
0 Comments.