Imitating God

In Ephesians 5:1, Paul writes: "Be imitators of God" (NIV, 1984).  That is an amazing command.  If it doesn't knock you off your feet, you probably haven't read it closely.  Think about it again.  "Imitate God."  Imitate the One who hung the stars in space.  Imitate the One who everywhere fills the earth with His presence.  Imitate the One who became Incarnate and took the punishment of the world upon Himself.  Imitate the One best described with the triune phrase "Holy! Holy! Holy!"  If you don't take a big swallow and gulp when you read Paul's words, you probably haven't really considered what Paul is asking.  How do we as finite creatures imitate the all-powerful, all mighty God?  

Thankfully, Paul narrows the command somewhat in he words that follow.  In verse 2, he writes: "Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."  How to we imitate God?  We do it by imitating His revelation of Himself in His Son Jesus and by living the life (and death)  of love that Jesus lived.  In many ways, this more defined version of the command isn't any easier to obey than the first, broader version.  Even the narrowed command to imitate God's love should still make us take a big gulp and swallow.  The love that Paul speaks of here requires the sacrifice of ourselves.  Even as Jesus gave His life to bring life to others, we are to give of ourselves to bring life and healing and hope to the people and world around us.  This is the sacrifice of love that imitates Jesus and that is pleasing to our Heavenly Father. 

The rest of the chapter explains what such love looks like.  The commands and imperatives of Ephesians 5 should not be regarded as a simple laundry list of ethics or a compendium of moral directives.  Instead, they flesh out what it means to be imitators of God.  They show us how we love to bring life through sacrifice even as Jesus did.  This consideration of how we flesh out love reaches its crescendo in verse 21 when Paul writes: "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ."  Here is where the imitation of Christ reaches its zenith.  We best imitate God when we lay aside our needs and wants and prerogatives for the sake of the good of others.  This is what Jesus did in the Incarnation and the cross.  And this is where we best imitate God.