Be Imitators Of God

The Lent Season is a season of testing our spiritual health and readiness for the end of our life in this world or the second coming of Christ. The annual call to observe a holy Lent by self–examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self–denial; by reading and meditating on God's Holy Word, and by marking a right beginning of repentance by receiving a mark of our mortal nature is a reminder that we need to live as people who are prepared to stand before our Lord at any time, even as early as this very day.

Paul is teaching the Ephesian church to "Be imitators of God." (Ephesians 5:1)

The goal of the Christian life is perfect imitation of God. The apostle John said that one day, “we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2). So, really, the whole of the Christian life is summed up right here: be imitators of God. God is the perfect person. He’s full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And God made us to imitate our creator.

We all have seen how children trying to imitate adults, especially their parents. They are very proud to wear the shoes or hats or sunglasses of the parents and show how proud they are to imitate dada or mama. This kind of imitation generally never leaves us completely as we grow older, although we often prefer not to admit it. Not only do we tend to look like our parents because of our shared DNA but we also tend to grow into the same mold as we get older. Young people may say that they do not want to be like their parents and that their prospective future family will be different. However, as time goes by, they start to do things the same way, and you can see the familial patterns emerging. Many parents are able to see their reflection in their children. Herein lies a subconscious, natural imitation.

It is common to see imitation in the sports and entertainment world. People imitate others and want to be like them. There is a basket ball player who want to imitate Michael Jordan. He was imitating Jordan. His mannerisms, the way he carried himself on the court, even the way he celebrated. People imitate not the general stuff, but they imitate in specifics.

Paul is asking the Christians to imitate God. There are several reasons for this. First of all, humans fail. Many considered O J Simspon as a great player to imitate and follow as a leader. But later history changed and people felt disappointed. It happened to many people. God is the only person we can imitate without having the fear for getting let down becasue God does not and cannot change. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning" [James 1:17].

We know someone, lets say Joe, a high school student who followed Kobe Bryant. He imitated Kobe in the field. He used to buy jerseys with Kobe's name and number 8. They were very expensive at that time. In 2003, Kobe was charged with sexual assault and was arrested, He lost a lot of endorsements and his reputation took a huge hit. Joe like a lot of fans had second thoughts. Now Joe has spent a lot of his savings in buying his hero's jerseys and hats which he does not want to talk about any more. That's what happens when we follow humans and imitate them. They disappoint us. The interesting thing is that later Kobe;s charges were dropped. But he began a come back. He changed his number from 8 to 24. All those who had the old jerseys felt let down. This happens on a regular basis in the sports, entertainement and political worlds.

God is the only person we can imitate without having the fear for getting let down because God does not and cannot change. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." [James 1:17]. Paul has already told us, earlier in Ephesians 2, that we used to imitate the world as well we once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). But not anymore. Now we imitate God.

Imitating the love of Christ.

Thus, our imitation of Christ most not only rise from our subconscious but it most also be a conscious effort. Paul pinpoints our imitation as a walk in love as Christ loved as and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. There was nothing subconscious about that as He purposefully strode to the cross on our behalf. God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.(Romans 5:8).