“Be imitators of God,
therefore, as dearly loved children 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 5:1, 2).
The expression “be imitators” is the English
translation of the Greek mimetai from which we have the word “mimic”.
Paul is encouraging us to mimic God.
For most of us, the word “mimic” pertains
mostly to the world of acting. That is not what Paul has in mind here.
Personally, I believe that there are way too
many actors out there as it is.
We are to imitate God not as actors, but as
dearly loved children. As children we did not imitate our parents for fun (with
some exceptions) but to learn from them as we were growing up.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul is
encouraging us…challenging us to imitate God as we grow in the likeness of
His Son.
We are to imitate God to learn from Him; to
live out the gracious charac- teristics of our great God.
Imitating God transforms our lives in a
wonderful way, bringing glory and honour to Him.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and
approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).
The natural tendency is to imitate the world.
The world is rejecting God’s word and teachings
and promotes and encourages evil practices: sexual immorality, impurity, greed,
obscenity, foolish talk, coarse jokes (Eph. 5:3, 4).
Hence the call: “Imitate God!”
As we imitate God, our lives will reflect His love, His light and His wisdom. Take Paul’s challenge today! Become an imitator of God!