Ephesians 5:1 – 2 “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”
God tells Christians to “Be ye therefore followers of God…”
The word “followers” means imitator, the word “imitators” means a
person who copies the behavior or actions of another. In our natural life we as
male children often imitate our dads in life. We look to them for meaningfulness
in life, dad mows the lawn we mowed with our plastic mowers behind him, dad
worked on the car and so we wanted to work on it also. Most male children
wanted grow-up to be their dad, some grew-up like their dad and some went
another route. Here Paul wrote that as Christians we ought to imitate our
Heavenly Father, if you are saved you are called a “Christian” which means Christ-like,
or we are walking in Christ. Then the Lord said “… And walk in love, as
Christ also hath loved us…” This walk is not in human love, this love is
the love God gave us all by the Holy Spirit, it is called “agapē” which is the
love of God. God gave us love because the natural man has no true love, they
only hate even if they do think they love they are full of hate. Every time God
describes the natural man it’s always in hate, they all hate God. However, once
saved you change, God quickens our spirit and gives us many spiritual gifts to
change so that we may be more like Him. Galatians 5:22 - 23 “But the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law.” The reason there is no law is
because they cannot be sinful, nor can they be condemned because they are of
God. As Christians we are “COMMANDED” to walk in love, just as Jesus did. God
does not want His children being full of hate and bitterness, He commands that
we walk in His love imitating Him. If your life, your attitude, and your spirit
is not full of love then you are failing. It is tragic when Christians
attitudes show up being hateful in the family of God, or the churches of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes children of God never grow-up in their spiritual life. They may have
a head full of knowledge, they may be teachers or leaders, or even Pastors, but
if they’re not walking as to imitate our heavenly Father in love, their
failing. Look back at the last two verses of chapter 4, Ephesians 4:31 – 32 “Let
all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put
away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” If
you are a Christian and your attitude resembles this, then you are NOT
IMITATING OUR HEAVENLY FATHER. If you have a difference with another Christian,
with your Pastor, with your church member, or even with a lost person you need
to settle that grievance immediately. Peter wrote these words, “And above
all things have fervent charity among yourselves:
for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another
without grudging.” 1 Peter 4:8 – 9. Do you see the words “fervent
charity”, those words mean don’t just love but put a lot of “intent” behind
that love. In everything use love, let love never cease Christian’s loving one
another; love is the very badge of Christianity as a child of God.
