Ephesians 4:17-18a, 20, 21b, 22-5:2 - Now ... you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do .... They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God .... But that is not the way you learned Christ!— [You] were taught to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. 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.
When my son was a toddler, he paid careful attention to his pastor father giving people Communion. And then he tried to imitate that at home. He took pieces of popcorn out of a bowl, shouted "Take, eat!" and did his best to cram them between our teeth. We cracked up. I'm glad he didn't decide to baptize us, too!
Children imitate their parents. And in this passage, Paul calls us to imitate our Father—to do the things that Jesus did, in the way that Jesus did them. He's not telling us to earn our salvation by being good—that would be ridiculous. Jesus has already loved us and given Himself up for us, when He died for us on the cross. His resurrection confirms what He said just before dying: "It is finished." Nobody needs to do anything else to earn God's gift of salvation. Jesus has done everything for us.
Then why do we do good deeds? Precisely because we are God's children, and what He does, we imitate. We follow in Jesus' footsteps because we love Him, and we want to be like Him. We have His Holy Spirit living in us, every day making us more and more like Him in truth. And so our tiny acts of love imitate Jesus' great acts of love, and serve as a witness to the world that is watching us: "Look how they love!" As Jesus tells us, "By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35).
WE PRAY: Lord, help me to imitate You! Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
1. When you were young, whom did you imitate?
2. What is one area of your life where you long to be more like Jesus?
3. How do you think Jesus feels about your childish attempts to be like Him? Why?
Today's Bible Readings: Psalms 133-135 1 Corinthians 2
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