One of the most startling sentences in the Bible is “Therefore be imitators of God, as dearly beloved children” (Ephesians 5:1; http://esv.to/Ep5.1).  The apostle Paul doesn’t mince words when he calls Christ followers to mimic God.  Paul doesn’t say this is for really mature believers. He didn’t say do it only if you really feel led to do it.  Paul puts it in command form, because it is the essence of the Christian experience.  Difficult but possible, and not only possible but commanded!

For the apostle Paul, commanding this of the Christians in Ephesus (and surrounding areas) was not something new.  In the very first chapter of the Bible (Genesis 1), we are told that the original couple were made in the image of God.  Whatever the image of God means, it certainly included expressing the character of God in life.  Such character reflection requires one keep in mind the object to be mirrored, which our original “parents” clearly did not do.  But we shouldn’t be too hard on them for we would have done the same.  I say that because we often fail to do it as his children today.

A couple of observations that are key to obeying this command.  First, notice that the sentence didn’t end with the requirement to mimic God.  Tied up with the command is the crucial reminder of who we are as Christ followers: we are God’s children.  We come from God and we belong to God; we are his creation and his treasure—children.  As God’s creation, made in his image, we have the moral qualities to reflect him much as I reflect my earthly father in so many ways.  Yet we are God’s treasure (just read Ephesians 1; http://esv.to/Ep1.3-23), his special possession.  And we are that by his grace through Christ.  In other words, we are motivated to mimic God, not because he is the judge that will zap us if we don’t, but because he is our kind and compassionate heavenly Father who has lavished us with grace.  We ought to be motivated by God’s grace and love for us.  Our motivation is key to the imitation of God.  To mimic God for any other reason than his extreme love for us is to fall into a legalism that outwardly does but inwardly is not.

Second, the apostle Paul doesn’t leave us in the dark about which he is specifically calling us to imitate.  The command is couched between two “as” statements.  Let’s take a look (http://esv.to/Eph4.32-5.2).

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Therefore be imitators of God, as dearly beloved children.
And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

The two “as” statements give us the imitation characteristics.  If we are to imitate God then the following must be true of us:

be kind to one another

tenderhearted

forgiving one another

walk in love

Again we are not left without example nor motivation.  Our character is to reflect God and Christ not some earthly person we admire (though there are fine examples out there of these qualities).  Nor is our life to reflect the present cultural version of these qualities.  Nor ought we take our cue from contemporary music and thought.  We imitate God and Christ.  They have practically and tangibly shown us the way.  We who have placed our confidence in Christ alone have experienced God’s kindness and tender heart and forgiveness.  We have experienced Christ’s love and are reminded of it whenever we look at the cross. 

Our heavenly Father and his son and our savior provide the motivation as well.  They pursued us with these qualities when we were running the opposite direction with disdain in our hearts for the very things for which we longed.  We tend to crave the things that hurt us and run from the things we need (yet really crave).  But we ought to be motivated by what God has done for us in Christ—motivated by grace and love—in all of our relationships. 

The apostle gives us a command to obey which comes from hearts motivated by God’s example of love and grace in Christ.  If we are to imitate God, we have to practically reflect these four qualities in our daily spheres of influence and relationships. 

Go imitate God!