Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Ephesians 5:1
My two-year-old niece Lucy is my sister's mini-me. She talks like her and copies so many of her mannerisms. One of the funniest things that Lucy does is when a package is dropped off at the front door, she yells "Thank you!" to the delivery driver. Why does she do this? She says, "Thank you!" because my sister says, "Thank you!" to the delivery drivers who drop off one of her packages. It is only natural that little children copy their parents. After all, we often reflect on the people we spend the most time with. For young children, this is most often their parents. On a much larger scale, as God's children, we are to imitate and reflect Him, our Heavenly Father, in everything we do.
Paul encourages us to reflect on our Heavenly Father in Ephesians 5. In this passage of Scripture, he writes, "Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children" (verse 1). After reading this verse, three points jump right out from the page. The first point is who we are called to imitate. We are not called to imitate a human being in this passage of Scripture. We are to imitate God, our Heavenly Father. That means that we are to show the world a reflection of our Heavenly Father through our words and actions. The second point that stands out in this passage of Scripture is the word "everything." In everything we do, we are to imitate our Heavenly Father. No action is too insignificant or too small that we do not need to represent Him. The final point that jumps out in this passage of Scripture is why we are to imitate God. We are to imitate Him because we are His dear children. We are God's children who are very dear to Him, so we must imitate Him.
After instructing readers to imitate God, Paul explained how we are to imitate God. We are to "live a life filled with love," abstain from behavior that dishonors God, and "carefully determine what pleases the Lord" (verses 2-5). Through our love and dedication to living in such a way that we honor God through our words and actions, we represent Him to the rest of the world. This, by the way, is no small act. When we imitate our Heavenly Father, We point others straight to Him.
Commit today to imitate your Heavenly Father through your words and actions. Spend a few moments praying. Ask your Heavenly Father to help you as you seek to imitate Him in everything you do so that He will get the glory and that others will be pointed straight to Him as a result.
Ephesians 5:1-9
1Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.
3 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. 4 Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
6 Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. 7 Don’t participate in the things these people do. 8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
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