Minister’s Corner: Imitators of God

By: DR. BRIAN DORE’
Member of the Ville Platte
Ministerial Alliance

Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:1-2 (KJV), “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 sweet smelling savour.” Paul is telling us to be imitators of God. So, how do we imitate God? After all, there’s more to imitating God than just talking the talk. Some people think if they just quote enough Scripture enough times in enough conversations, they will be branded as godly. Quoting Scripture is, of course, a good thing, but there is more to imitating God than just repeating His best-known lines.
So, how do we imitate God? We can’t imitate His power, His presence or His knowledge, but there is one way we can imitate God and be just like Him. Love, that’s how you imitate God: you love people. But let me remind you that loving people is not a feeling, it is an action. Love is something you do. The Bible says God loves us, and He demonstrates His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). So when Paul talks about imitating God by walking in love, he is not talking about having a feeling, he is talking about showing an action. What action?
You imitate God’s love by forgiving others. That requires strength. The inability to forgive is a sign of weakness. The ability to forgive is a sign of power. That’s because forgiveness isn’t easy, but if God has freely forgiven me for all my sins, how could I possibly not forgive others? We must forgive each other, just as Christ has forgiven us. At that point, we become imitators of Christ.