Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2 (ESV)
Therefore be imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]. Ephesians 5:1 (Amplified Bible)
Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Ephesians 5:1 (The Message)
I've known these verses for a long time, but recently I saw the first verse differently from how I've seen it before. Basically, verse one says, "Imitate God like children imitate their fathers." I think I've always read the first half of this sentence and skipped the last half. Imitating God is a daunting task. It's so seemingly impossible that I think most of us read this verse and think that it's not even worth trying, that we can't even come close to looking like God. However, when I look at the whole first verse, I see it not as a call to an impossible task but as a call to realize our place as beloved children of a holy father and to act as such.
When children imitate their fathers, they try so hard to look like them, and it is the cutest thing. A little boy puts on his dad's big shoes and long tie and can barely walk as he drags his dad's briefcase across the floor. He tries to talk like his dad, walk like his dad, eat what his dad eats, drink morning coffee like his dad (and then he decides that he doesn't have to be exactly like his dad!), you get the point. Think about how this dad feels when his son wants to be just like him. He loves it. His little one looks hilarious in his work clothes, but he doesn't care. His son wants to be like him!
Our heavenly father takes great delight in us (Zephaniah 3:17), as a father delights in his children. He so radically loved us before we even knew of him, and we have absolutely nothing to offer him but our love (our obedience serves as evidence of such--1 John 5:3). Even then, nothing we do can change his love for us. Therefore, Paul's words in Ephesians are not burdensome. We are children of the God who is love (1 John 4:16), and we should desire to be like him. We may fail, like the little boy whose tiny arms can't pick up his dad's briefcase, but praise God! The righteousness of his perfect Son Jesus is ours by the completely undeserved grace of God through our faith in him. Jesus, however, was perfectly united with his father. He did only what he saw his father doing (John 5:19) and said just what his father told him to say (John 12:50). May we live like that through the power of the Spirit of God inside us.
Therefore be imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]. Ephesians 5:1 (Amplified Bible)
Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Ephesians 5:1 (The Message)
I've known these verses for a long time, but recently I saw the first verse differently from how I've seen it before. Basically, verse one says, "Imitate God like children imitate their fathers." I think I've always read the first half of this sentence and skipped the last half. Imitating God is a daunting task. It's so seemingly impossible that I think most of us read this verse and think that it's not even worth trying, that we can't even come close to looking like God. However, when I look at the whole first verse, I see it not as a call to an impossible task but as a call to realize our place as beloved children of a holy father and to act as such.
When children imitate their fathers, they try so hard to look like them, and it is the cutest thing. A little boy puts on his dad's big shoes and long tie and can barely walk as he drags his dad's briefcase across the floor. He tries to talk like his dad, walk like his dad, eat what his dad eats, drink morning coffee like his dad (and then he decides that he doesn't have to be exactly like his dad!), you get the point. Think about how this dad feels when his son wants to be just like him. He loves it. His little one looks hilarious in his work clothes, but he doesn't care. His son wants to be like him!
Our heavenly father takes great delight in us (Zephaniah 3:17), as a father delights in his children. He so radically loved us before we even knew of him, and we have absolutely nothing to offer him but our love (our obedience serves as evidence of such--1 John 5:3). Even then, nothing we do can change his love for us. Therefore, Paul's words in Ephesians are not burdensome. We are children of the God who is love (1 John 4:16), and we should desire to be like him. We may fail, like the little boy whose tiny arms can't pick up his dad's briefcase, but praise God! The righteousness of his perfect Son Jesus is ours by the completely undeserved grace of God through our faith in him. Jesus, however, was perfectly united with his father. He did only what he saw his father doing (John 5:19) and said just what his father told him to say (John 12:50). May we live like that through the power of the Spirit of God inside us.
No comments:
Post a Comment