Born to Imitate - Sunday February 21, 2016
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. Ephesians 5:1-2
Seeing two-year-olds imitate the people around them always puts a big smile on my face! Recently I sang a lullaby for my little grandson while putting him down for a nap, and for the next fifteen minutes he "sang" in his crib before falling asleep. Earlier I'd grasped the stair rail while carrying him upstairs, so he insisted on touching the handrail, too, following my hand all the way up. Last month his two-year-old cousin, who has been walking for over a year, suddenly started scooting around on her behind to go from room to room. Why? Because her big sister had a full-length cast on her broken leg and had to scoot around to get to her toys. They watch and imitate. These cuties copy us simply because it's the nature of young children to be imitators.
If you are in Christ, you have a nature that's born for imitating God. Today's verse says, "Be imitators of God." Why? Because you are one of His "beloved children," and children imitate. That's just what they naturally do. How do children know what to imitate? They just watch. So if you want to imitate God, look at Him in the verse, and you see lots of love! It declares that God dearly loves you as His beloved child, and that Christ loves you and gave Himself up for you. God is completely filled to the brim with love.
When you see the reality of God's love for you, the result will be imitation – choosing to live a life of love, just as Christ also loved you! It's what His children are born to do.
Submitted by:
Rita Bergen
Cornerstone Community Church
Overland Park, Kansas
One-Year Reading Plan:
Leviticus 11:1-12:8
Mark 5:21-43
Psalms 38:1-22
Proverbs 10:8-9
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SCRIPTURE REFERENCB-ES: Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible B) The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from the Holy, Bible, New International Version, copyright B) 1973, 1978, 1984 by InternaB-tional Bible Society; (NKJV) are from New King James Version B) 1982 by Thomas Nelson; (NLT) are from the New Living Translation, B) 1996, Tyndale House Publishers; (ESV) are from English Standard VersionB., B) 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers; (TM) are from The Message B) 1993 by NavPress Publishers.