Be Imitators of God

In these verses, Paul gives us two commands as goals for our Christian life. Firstly, to imitate God. Why? Because God is our Father, and believers are His beloved children. Paul went further to tell us that in everything we do, we should imitate God. When we imitate God, we try and strive to do as He would do because we are not God. God is Holy, full of mercy and grace, loving and caring, faithful and gentle, rich in goodness and kindness. There are some attributes of God that we cannot imitate, but God is calling us to others - holiness, kindness, love, tolerance, peace, etc.

Ephesians 5:1-2

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

The second command is to walk in love. Why? Because God loves us so much that He gave His only begotten Son to us as a sacrifice for our sins. Paul wasn't calling us to occasional love, rather a natural and consistent love that is patient and kind, love that is not arrogant, envy, or rejoice at wrongdoings. Love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things - 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7. Our love towards God and others should be constant and not for a limited period.

Beloved, what are you doing in imaging your heavenly Father to do what He would do and what would you do to demonstrate your love to others or to love better. Love is giving, love is sacrifice, even when someone could be annoying, you must still love as a believer, which is one of the ways to imitate God. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”