Ephesians 5:1
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children”.
What an honor to be a child of God. He did so much for that to happen. He first created us to be with Him. We disobeyed and fell. He spent the entire Old Testament spelling out a way to redeem us. He worked through Israel as a type. Jesus arrived and loved all and showed the way and did the big deed and died for us all. With His own blood, He purchased our redemption. He made it possible to be His child. Then He called us and called us again. We accepted and He adopted us as sons and daughters. Of course we would imitate Him.
It's a bit awkward, as we were wild, like street children adopted into polite society. He doesn't care and He teaches us not to. He cleans us up and teaches us His ways. In time, people recognize us as having been with Jesus (Acts 4:13b). Like Father, like son (or daughter).
I know love is prominent, but God's humility has struck me these last few years. It's amazing how humble He is. He sends His Son to be born in a barn. He invites the poorest around to witness it (shepherds). He associates with sinners and so on. I want to imitate that.
He reaches out to the lonely and hurting. He did that to us. We were awkward and embarrassed, He reaches out. He does so privately, so as not to embarrass us. He makes us feel welcome and loved. In time we are confident in His love for us, that we can reciprocate and reach out to other hurting people.
Another way we are to imitate Him is by forgiving. We can be so shocked when sinned against. But we still sin. We want others to forgive us. We can't forget that we've been forgiven much. We need to offer it freely and without reservation. We need to stop being judgmental.
Another demonstration of His love is forgiving so much. He let it go and reached out. He does it time and time again. I think of Peter's dialogue with Jesus. "Lord, how many times are we to forgive? Seven times?" "No. Seventy times seven", (Matthew 18:21-22). We will need to revisit this often, as we keep on forgiving.
Bad feelings will persist, we have to forgive by faith and move on. Ignore the feelings. We commit them to Him and ask Him to help us let them go. He will help.
Lord, thank You for the privilege of being like You. You are the hero. Empower us to imitate You.