Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children. Ephesians 5:1
A 13-year-old boy in Connecticut was taken to hospital with second-degree burns on his back. He received the burns when he tried to imitate a television stuntman who had made a fire-resistant suit of steaks, and had lain down across a barbecue. There is a reason why announcers often utter the words ‘Don’t try this at home’ when stunts like that are performed. Too many people are injured, and even killed, when they try to imitate something they saw another person do. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but when it comes to dangerous stunts, imitation can well be the height of folly. We need to be very careful who and what we imitate. Many styles and trends are based on people imitating movie stars, music stars, and sports heroes. Sometimes those styles and trends are good, sometimes not. We tend to imitate people we are impressed with, especially people we admire. I recall a preacher who used to try to imitate another preacher of a previous era, copying his manner of speaking and even the way he stood and gestured. But we can never go wrong if we follow the instruction of our text, and imitate God.
The word ‘followers’ in our text (mimeetai in the Greek) is translated ‘imitators’ in many other versions of the Bible. How do we imitate God. By trying to be like Him in His character and in His actions.
God is holy. And so should we be. ‘Ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy’ (Leviticus 11:45). In one way, every Christian is holy, in our standing before God. Several times in his epistles, Paul addresses the Christians as holy brethren, for example, in Hebrews 3:1: ‘Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus’. Our relationship with God makes us holy. That places on us the responsibility to be as much like God as we can. The Bible reveals God to us, so to learn about God, we must read it, study it, meditate on it. And as we learn about God, we will become more like Him in His perfect goodness, His lovingkindness, His graciousness, His inability to lie or break a promise, and so forth.
As mortals, we are unable to be like God in many of our actions, because we are not mighty, let alone almighty like Him. But there are ways in which we can act like God. For example, God never acts contrary to His Word. So we can act like Him in being always in obedience to His Word. God also always acts in love and compassion. We can do that. God also acts in ways that bring glory to the person of Jesus Christ. We can do that, too. We receive our best lessons on how to act like God by studying the Gospels and their accounts of the life of the Lord Jesus. He could say ‘I do always those things that please Him (the Father)’ (John 8:29). His delight was to do His Father’s will. So if we imitate the Lord Jesus in our words, in our deportment, in our commitment to serve others, we will be obedient to today’s text.
There is a reason why the apostle tells us we should be followers of God: it is because we are His dear children. In response to His love to us, let us show our love to Him by becoming as much like Him as we can. – Jim MacIntosh
Here is the link to the video of this message: https://youtu.be/_A0LfkSC3KI