The Lent Season is a season of testing our spiritual health and readiness for the end of our life in this world or the second coming of Christ. The annual call to observe a holy Lent by self–examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self–denial; by reading and meditating on God's Holy Word, and by marking a right beginning of repentance by receiving a mark of our mortal nature is a reminder that we need to live as people who are prepared to stand before our Lord at any time, even as early as this very day.
Paul is teaching the Ephesian church to "Be imitators of God." (Ephesians 5:1)
The goal of the Christian life is perfect imitation of God. The apostle John said that one day, “we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2). So, really, the whole of the Christian life is summed up right here: be imitators of God. God is the perfect person. He’s full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And God made us to imitate our creator.
We all have seen how children trying to imitate adults, especially their parents. They are very proud to wear the shoes or hats or sunglasses of the parents and show how proud they are to imitate dada or mama. This kind of imitation generally never leaves us completely as we grow older, although we often prefer not to admit it. Not only do we tend to look like our parents because of our shared DNA but we also tend to grow into the same mold as we get older. Young people may say that they do not want to be like their parents and that their prospective future family will be different. However, as time goes by, they start to do things the same way, and you can see the familial patterns emerging. Many parents are able to see their reflection in their children. Herein lies a subconscious, natural imitation.
It is common to see imitation in the sports and entertainment world. People imitate others and want to be like them. There is a basket ball player who want to imitate Michael Jordan. He was imitating Jordan. His mannerisms, the way he carried himself on the court, even the way he celebrated. People imitate not the general stuff, but they imitate in specifics.
Paul is asking the Christians to imitate God. There are several reasons for this. First of all, humans fail. Many considered O J Simspon as a great player to imitate and follow as a leader. But later history changed and people felt disappointed. It happened to many people. God is the only person we can imitate without having the fear for getting let down becasue God does not and cannot change. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning" [James 1:17].
We know someone, lets say Joe, a high school student who followed Kobe Bryant. He imitated Kobe in the field. He used to buy jerseys with Kobe's name and number 8. They were very expensive at that time. In 2003, Kobe was charged with sexual assault and was arrested, He lost a lot of endorsements and his reputation took a huge hit. Joe like a lot of fans had second thoughts. Now Joe has spent a lot of his savings in buying his hero's jerseys and hats which he does not want to talk about any more. That's what happens when we follow humans and imitate them. They disappoint us. The interesting thing is that later Kobe;s charges were dropped. But he began a come back. He changed his number from 8 to 24. All those who had the old jerseys felt let down. This happens on a regular basis in the sports, entertainement and political worlds.
God is the only person we can imitate without having the fear for getting let down because God does not and cannot change. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." [James 1:17]. Paul has already told us, earlier in Ephesians 2, that we used to imitate the world as well we once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). But not anymore. Now we imitate God.
Imitating the love of Christ.
Thus, our imitation of Christ most not only rise from our subconscious but it most also be a conscious effort. Paul pinpoints our imitation as a walk in love as Christ loved as and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. There was nothing subconscious about that as He purposefully strode to the cross on our behalf. God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.(Romans 5:8).
Love is not just a nice feeling we have about someone that rises mostly from our subconscious. Love goes much deeper than that. Love is a decision. We decide to love, and we must do so in an ongoing way. Love is to be our guide, and it is to govern our emotions, actions, and decisions. God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son.” (John 3:16). Love always comes with action. God loved that He gave. It is an action and a noun. We give ourselves for others when we are filled with the love of God.
A stressed-out woman who was tailgating a man as they drove on a busy boulevard. When he slowed to a stop at a yellow light, the woman hit the horn, cussing and screaming in frustration and gesturing angrily. As she was ranting, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a police officer who ordered her to exit the car with her hands up. He took her to the police station and placed her in a holding cell. An hour later, the officer returned and said, "I'm sorry, Ma'am. This has been a big mistake. When I pulled up behind you, I noticed your license plate holder saying 'What Would Jesus Do?' and also read your bumper sticker that says 'Follow Me to Sunday School”. I assumed the car was stolen!" It may be a fabricated story, but the story points us to check our lives “Why we are Christians”. It is not to be put up on Sunday morning but but we are to shine as God's children spreading the light of love and eternal life God has given us through His Son. Jesus calls believers to be "salt" and to "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:16).
This is completely consistent with the two great commandments to love God above all and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. We have to live love, breathe love, and spread love. It has to shine in everything and everywhere. Walk in love. When we walk in love, we love our neighbor as ourselves and we love our enemies and we pray for those who do bad things against us.
Imitating the humilIty of Christ.
Christ being God himself, left the throne of heaven and humbled himself to take up the form of a man.."Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself." (Phil 2:5).
Jesus taught a parable about a Pharisee and a Tax Collector who both went to pray in the temple. The Pharisee prayed to himself and started praying about how good and righteous he is while the tax collector prayed to God humbling himself with repentance. This parable is about several things including prayer, self-righteousness and pride. The theme of the story is clear in verse 9 “he told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others contempt”. A self-congratulatory and self-satisfied display of religion appears in this parable.The sins of the spirit are more dangerous to most us than the sins of the flesh. The sins of the flesh are more visible while spiritual sins are not as visible. When we imitate God, we will not feel as the most righteous and never look down on others.
Jesus is teaching here that if the righteousness that we have is a product of our own efforts, it becomes a matter of pride, and then we get the feeling that we can look down on those who have not attained such goodness. But if we realize that our righteousness is a gift from God, we have no reason for boasting and no reason to feel superior to someone. The Pharisee is actually telling God that God is fortunate to have such a great person in His Kingdom.
This happens when our mind is set with our need rather than God’s will. The Pharisee was boasting over the tax collector. It is like a college student saying that he knows more than a fourth grader. You want to reply, “ I should surely hope so.” To exalt you by downgrading someone else is actually contempt for the One who made that other person and who loves him or her.
As Godly people, we have no right to compare ourselves with others. Always compare with Jesus. Jesus said “ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matt 5:48. When we compare ourselves with God, we find no reason to boast.
William Barclay, the great Scottish Bible teacher recalled a train trip through Yorkshire when he saw a white cottage bright and shining. A few days later, while he was coming back, there was snow all over the area, and the whiteness of the house looked pale compared with the fresh whiteness of the snow. When we set our lives alongside the life of Jesus, our best human efforts fall far short. The tax collector was not comparing himself with others. He acknowledges that he is a sinner. He was looking at God’s holiness and found himself so humbled like Isaiah the prophet who saw the holiness of God and said "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts." (Isaiah 6:5).
Imitating the obedience of Christ.
Imitating Christ is to accept God's will in our lives. "Thy Will Be Done" is the great prayer Jesus taught to pray. It is a sign of humility and obedience when one imitates God. Anyone who prays to God has to approach Him with humility and complete surrender to the will of God. When Jesus prayed in the garden to remove the cup of suffering from Him, the prayer was: "Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)." We acknowledge that God's will is better than ours and God's plans are superior to ours.
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