“Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.” Ephesians 5:1
At first glance this exhortation of Paul that we imitate God may totally baffle us. Imitate God? The God of heaven and earth? The God who spoke and the world was? The God who has the power over life and death?
We stand in awe before His majesty!
Can we imitate Him whom we cannot even fathom or comprehend? We are more likely to say with Isaiah the prophet that we envision God sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and that we hear the flying seraphim, as they cover their faces and their feet, crying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
And with Isaiah we answer: “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips . . . for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Or perhaps, rather than ever thinking it possible to imitate Him, we prefer to fall on our knees with Simon Peter, saying: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
Surely we understand the feeling of John on the Isle of Patmos, when he saw the vision of the Lord and said: “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead.”
But it is precisely in that spirit of awe and humble reverence that we are prepared to hear the exhortation to “imitate” God. For it is then that the Lord will testify in our hearts: “Fear not!” Obedience to this word to imitate Him, is, after all, possible. It is possible because we are created in His image; it is possible because His enabling Spirit dwells within us; it is possible because by His regenerating and transforming grace, we have become His children, and children are imitators.
Notice the background against which Paul speaks this exhortation. The previous chapter contains a number of practical exhortations for Christian living, concluding with the words: “be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you.” Therefore, “be imitators of God.” And that in turn sets the stage for further warnings against fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, and idolatry.
As we ponder the meaning of this, let our analogy be drawn from children. Children are imitators because they are growing up. As they develop and mature, they seek a pattern to follow. And what better way to do that than by looking to those who are grown and mature as their example?
So too with the Christian. We are always in the process of spiritual maturation, until we come “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” In fact, we never reach the height of that attainment in this life; the goal is higher than we can reach. And yet our calling is to strive for it, to “press on for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ.”
And what is our norm or pattern? How do we make our decisions? Whom do we copy? Paul says; Be an imitator of God! Follow Him!
Oh, that’s not an easy word to hear; not because we find it so hard to be imitators, but because of the One whom we are urged to imitate. To be an imitator is quite natural. We all have to admit that we are very much influenced by the environment in which we live.
Though we don‘t like to think so, deep down inside, we are conformists by nature. It‘s a conformist‘s world, and we are always imitating people. So it takes concerted effort to pattern our life after One who is not of this world. Be an imitator of God! That‘s a high road of imitation on which to walk!
And if we ask the question: “What is the basic, the most fundamental characteristic of which we ought to give evidence in our lives as we imitate God?” the answer is found in the verse that follows: “and walk in love, even as Christ also loved you.”
To “walk in love” is to be an imitator of God. Not a selfish love, not a love which gives only to receive, not even a mere affectionate love. But a love patterned after God‘s love which was expressed to us “while we were yet sinners.”
John wrote about this love when he said: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” I John 4;10, 11.
It will take more than a lifetime to attain that high goal. But that is the pattern held before us as we seek to be imitators of God. If you and I will test all of our relationships in life by this standard, we will find ourselves to be falling short, to be sure; but, at the same time, being more and more conformed to the image of His Son.
Come Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove With all Thy quickening powers. Come, shed abroad a Savior‘s love, And that shall kindle ours.
