Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1–2
I just can’t get these verses out of my head this week. I don’t know why but God is really dealing with me in the context of this verse and I’ve got so many questions as I look at my life and the life of other believers around me. My main question is, why? Why aren’t we, followers of Christ that are called to be “little Christ’s as Jim Palmer refers to us in his book “Wide Open Spaces: Beyond Paint-by-Number Christianity” (Thomas Nelson), imitating the one who calls us beloved children. Why am I not walking in the same love that Christ loved me with? Why am I not fully offering my life to God as a sacrificial offering, just as He did for me?
The Bible, the very book Christians agree is the complete authoritative rule for living, is chuck full of verses that make the Way very clear. However, we have failed to take the words on the page and transpose them into our lives. The verse that continues to convict me is at the centre of our relationship with Christ; John 3:16 “For God so loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
If you put Ephesians 5:1 and John 3:16 together I’ve got to think that what I’m giving God is in no way reflective of what I know I should be giving him. I realize that there is nothing we can do to compare to the sacrifice made on the cross for our sins but that doesn’t void us from our obligation to make greater efforts toward that end. Toward the end of becoming imitators of the one who hung on the very cross our sins created.
If we lived forever marked with the obligation to imitate Christ by making cross sized sacrifices I believe the world would look at the church drastically differently. In stead the church, to the world we are called to “go and make disciples” of, has been minimized to place where gossip runs rampid, judgements are carelessly thrown upon people and through under-informed responses to cultural issues, such as homosexuality or abortion, or by emphasizing gimmicks or a rejection of spiritual drift as anything more than rebellion, church has alienated the world rather than display sincere compassion.
So I’ve resolved to be more deliberate about my efforts to imitate Christ and look for opportunities to love the world just as Christ has loved me. Will you join me?
“For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and how you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’” Matthew 25:35-40 {NLT}
I just can’t get these verses out of my head this week. I don’t know why but God is really dealing with me in the context of this verse and I’ve got so many questions as I look at my life and the life of other believers around me. My main question is, why? Why aren’t we, followers of Christ that are called to be “little Christ’s as Jim Palmer refers to us in his book “Wide Open Spaces: Beyond Paint-by-Number Christianity” (Thomas Nelson), imitating the one who calls us beloved children. Why am I not walking in the same love that Christ loved me with? Why am I not fully offering my life to God as a sacrificial offering, just as He did for me?
The Bible, the very book Christians agree is the complete authoritative rule for living, is chuck full of verses that make the Way very clear. However, we have failed to take the words on the page and transpose them into our lives. The verse that continues to convict me is at the centre of our relationship with Christ; John 3:16 “For God so loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”If you put Ephesians 5:1 and John 3:16 together I’ve got to think that what I’m giving God is in no way reflective of what I know I should be giving him. I realize that there is nothing we can do to compare to the sacrifice made on the cross for our sins but that doesn’t void us from our obligation to make greater efforts toward that end. Toward the end of becoming imitators of the one who hung on the very cross our sins created.
If we lived forever marked with the obligation to imitate Christ by making cross sized sacrifices I believe the world would look at the church drastically differently. In stead the church, to the world we are called to “go and make disciples” of, has been minimized to place where gossip runs rampid, judgements are carelessly thrown upon people and through under-informed responses to cultural issues, such as homosexuality or abortion, or by emphasizing gimmicks or a rejection of spiritual drift as anything more than rebellion, church has alienated the world rather than display sincere compassion.
So I’ve resolved to be more deliberate about my efforts to imitate Christ and look for opportunities to love the world just as Christ has loved me. Will you join me?
“For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and how you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’” Matthew 25:35-40 {NLT}
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