Imitators Of God

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:  Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.  And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, will all malice:  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.  Be ye therefore imitators of God, as dear children…..

Ephesians 4:25-5:1

As Paul practically applies the theology which he began to expound back when he spoke of our being chosen in Christ ‘before the foundation of the world,’ he becomes very specific regarding how our behavior will look because we are ‘in Christ.’  We have quoted a long passage today, which brings us to our text, a summary statement of what has gone before.  If we are ‘imitators of God, as dear children,’ then we, as children, will copy the behavior of our father.  We see that He does not lie; does not add sin to His anger; does not give Satan opportunity; does not steal, or speak in a corrupt fashion.  He does not grieve the Holy Spirit; nor is He bitter, wrathful, angry, quarrelsome, slanderous or malicious.  Rather, He is kind and forgiving, as He demonstrates by forgiving us ‘in Christ.’  If we become ‘imitators of God’ as new creations in Christ, we will find ourselves demonstrating behavior which patterns itself after what we know of God our Father and of Christ His Son.  As children, we will fail often in our imitation of Christ, but that merely demonstrates that we are, indeed, children.  God has not finished in His development of us.  He will patiently continue to work in us and with us until, by His Spirit, He brings us to become fully ‘imitators of God.’

Our High and Holy God,
we rejoice that You have shown us,
by Your own Character,
what You intend for us to be.
We praise You, that by the workings of Your Holy Spirit,
You will bring us to become imitators of You.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning