Imitating Jesus

Ephesians 5:1-2 states, “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. In a recent discussion, someone asked, HOW? How do we imitate God? I thought I was going to answer in a most sincere way. I stated, it is in how we live our life. If we have faith, hope, love, if we are just, have prudence, temperance, strength, humility, perseverance, honor, charity, compassion, truth, purity and hospitality, we will be imitating God. I stated that faith is the start, but maturity is the key. As we continue our relationship with God and if it is healthy we will fall deeper in love with him and from that love we will aspire to the list of aforementioned virtues. One of the other participants answered with an answer that I have heard dozens of times. It is the claim of legalism or works salvation. He stated it is more than what I said, that doing is not what God wants. I tried to realign my statement but to no avail. I find some people are trapped for whatever reason in this frame of mind or thinking. To do, an outward gesture, can and admittedly so, can be faked by some. What the person is missing, what many who say the same thing is missing, is the concept of faith and being spirit filled. If you are walking with God, seek and allow yourself to be filled with His spirit, there is no choice in what you do. You will fill up and overflow with His spirit. It is in that filling up and overflowing that all those virtues emerge. Godliness, Faith, Love, Hope, Justice, Prudence, Temperance, Strength, Humility, Perseverance, Honor, Charity, Sacrifice, Compassion, Loyalty, Truth, Purity, and Hospitality are the natural product of the in dwelling and filling up of the Holy Spirit. It is in the motivation that being imitators of God come from. Am I functioning in these virtues because I am filled with the Spirit or because I believe doing these things will cause me to become filled with the spirit? This question does not deny that many are living lives as imitators of God based upon being filled with the spirit. Seek first God, His spirit. Walk in faith in the knowledge that God with you, pray and fill your life with the word of God and the spirit will surely fill you up. This is the motivation, it comes from the inside, not the outside. My desires to be obedient to God is driven by my love for Him. To love God, drives one to obedience, not fear. Obedience leads one to deny themselves the pleasures of the flesh. This in turn aids in several of those virtues mentioned above. Paul is telling us to be imitators of Jesus. Recall what Jesus said to the Rich young man. After asking him if he did all that he was supposed to do, to which the man answered that he did, Jesus then told him, sell all that you have, give it to the poor and come follow me. The rich young man could not let go of his earthly possession. These things brought him comfort, housing, food, and warmth. All things of the flesh. The question is then, not will you get rid of everything, but can you if asked to do so? Are you at a place within your relationship with God that if He said, “Sell everything and come follow me,” can you, would you? Jesus gave up everything at age 30. He left home and never looked back. He did not have a job, a sack of gold, nothing is mentioned about how he kept himself. He would, as we all know, give up his very life for sake of mankind. To embrace those virtues, our love for God must be deep, deeper than anything else in our life. I am not sure the depth of this love is.

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