Imitating

 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children (Ephesians 5:1)

There’s a scene at the beginning of Jaws in which Sheriff Brody’s son imitates him. It’s cute and endearing. Here’s the link: Jaws Father & Son Scene. There’s a lot that Brody does that his son could only pretend to do (like shooting a rifle at an oxygen tank in the mouth of a charging Great White shark and hitting the tank!) but in this scene, he’s doing what his dad does. And we smile.

This gives an idea of what Paul write to the Ephesians.  We are to follow God’s example. Like dearly loved children, we’re supposed to imitate God. That doesn’t mean that we create universes or rain fire and brimstone on those who displease us.  It means that we do what God does at the dining room table. If He passes the potatoes, we pass them, too – even if they’re heavy. We can worry about shooting oxygen tanks and calling down fire and brimstone after we’re older.

This brings to mind a story you’re probably tired of hearing. One of the best speeches I ever gave compared my letter opener collection and my sword “collection” to life.  The problem with sword collections is that swords are expensive, big, and not overly useful. Letter openers cost less, take up less room, and (when I started the collection) were useful fairly often. A person can have a hundred letter openers without taking up much room.

The same is true of our imitation of God. There are countless opportunities to mimic God at the “pass the potatoes” or sip a drink level. We can imitate His forgiveness of sins several times a day. We can choose to think about benefitting others instead of thinking about ourselves and our problems. We can demonstrate compassion and kindness – even starting with just one imitation per day.

And as we build the habit of acting the way God acts, we’ll get to the point where it is simply natural for us to be “like God.”