Isaiah - Verse By Verse | Walking through Ephesians

Walking through Ephesians - Day 99

versebyverse | February 23, 2008 17:17

Thought: To me, there is a simplicity in Christianity: it is learning to be like God, and God is love.

Question: Do I desire to imitate God?

Scripture: Ephesians 5:1 (NIV): "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children"

Here is a good summation of chapter 4 in its entirety: both the portion emphasizing unity, and the portions giving practical ways to overcome the fallen nature. We are to imitate God. When we copy God in purpose and direction, we will be united with all other Christians who also want to emulate Him. We will be drawn together in this effort, this quest. When we copy God we will be fully concentrated on His nature and thus desirous of His desires which is equivalent to "putting on the new self, created to be like God..." (verse 24). I like the way Paul's advice boils down to this phrase. It is a simple conclusion; it is a lifetime's ambition. It is a strong challenge for every new dawning day: "imitate God."

Now, how capable are we of imitating God? Can we act at all like God? Didn't Lucifer want to be "like God" and didn't it lead him utterly astray? To me, as I've already pointed out, there is provision made for us to imitate God by allowing Christ to indwell us. Lucifer did not take this pathway. He struck out independently. The core of ability to imitate God has to spring from the seed of Jesus Christ planted within at regeneration. And for the seed of Jesus to grow, our old self has to die. (Unless a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die it will not bring forth fruit.) Satan never died to self! Thus our imitation of God is not our effort, independent of Christ, at all; but rather, the idea given us by the Holy Spirit to begin to want to change self, to give up self, to die to self, so that Christ's gloriously perfect self can live vicariously through us and in us. So our effort is a different effort than self-righteousness. Our effort is the labor of relinquishment and waiting, trusting and obeying, learning and growing, accepting and following. We are children. Paul calls us "dearly loved children." We know well the role of a child. We know it from a two-fold basis: 1) having been one and 2) raising them (or perhaps teaching them if we are not natural parents). Thus it is very appropriate for us to be told to be like children. We have a lot of experience and knowledge to draw on. God graciously gives us a physical environment full of real children and real parenting to show us the many ways He is dealing with us spiritually.

God does "love us dearly." God is a God of love. Love is in everything God does for us and with us. We can trust ourselves totally to God in this risky call of self-relinquishment because we know we are loved. A child will fall happily into his parents' control when he is confident of that parent's love. I would venture to say that the degree of death to self we muster is directly parallel to the degree of trust we have in His love. And if we love God deeply, responding fully to His deep love for us, we will want to imitate Him totally. Any child who thoroughly loves his parent wants to be just like him. How much more should we want to be like God Who is much more lovely and worthy in His perfection?

Prayer: Because of Your dying and undying love for me, Father, may I seek to imitate You all my life. Amen.