A Fake Purse

 

What comes to mind when you think of the word "imitation"?  Most often, I think "a cleverly disguised fake".  One time, on a trip to NYC, I bought a "designer purse" - - except that it truly wasn't.  I watched the vendor furtively sneak behind a curtain to get the model I had selected, quickly attach the designer insignia on the front and take my cash.  Voila!  Designer purse!  Right?
No.  Instead, I got a cleverly designed fake, which fooled most people.

This is not what the apostle Paul is talking about in Ephesians 5:1-2, today's text.

1Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children 2and live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.  (NET)

Here it is in The Message version:

^1-2 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

In the field of education, there is a principle of excellent instruction, and it is this:  you want your students to watch what you do, and then to model their learning after you.  I used to tell my language arts teachers, when I was a principal, "Show the students an example of excellent writing, and show them in detail what makes it excellent."  This is an approach of going from "the whole" and deconstructing, which is easier for most folks than looking at all the small, disparate parts and then putting something together.

In Jesus Christ, we have "the whole enchilada" of God.  Isn't that marvelous?  All we need to do is to study how He lived, and then model our lives after Him.  This results in a life of love.

As I read today's passage, I thought of the fact that I was blessed with a wonderful mother and father, who lavished love on us, their children.  My daddy went on to be with Jesus nearly 19 years ago, but my mother continues to love all three of us.  She prays for us, offers to help us, chides us when we need it and is generous with all she has.  She is a model of both love and virtue.  I realize, though, that some of you have trouble with the parent analogy, because your parent(s) was/were despicable.

My Daddy used to tell me, "You won't know what love is until you have a child."  I found his statement presumptuous and annoying as a teenager; but, wow, did I ever understand it after becoming a parent.  God's love for us is absolutely perfect, and He longs for us to first embrace it so that we may imitate it in our own, daily lives.

So, how does one imitate God?  Or Christ, as other scriptures prescribe?

Dr. Robert D. Luginbill1 emphasized that this is impossible apart from the power of the Holy Spirit and the virtues of scripture.  He defines "virtue" like this:  "Virtue is truth, distilled and applied to the individual life."  I love that!  What I see often is that we want to embrace the "love of God" without truly understanding His ways.  We embrace the love of a god of our own imagining.  To truly love God and to love others as He loves demands an understanding of, and a habitual practice of, His truths, revealed in Scripture. Otherwise, all you've got is a fake purse.

God's model demands that we love through self-sacrifice and with humility, not in an odious, sanctimonious fashion....that we love in trials, under pressure, with great prayer and surrender of our strong will.  Only the Holy Spirit can teach us this, as we yield to His leading.

Here are some related verses on imitating Christ:

http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Imitating-Jesus

Study them for yourself.  They say it so much better than I!  :)

Father, I do not want to be a "fake purse" or a "fake Christian".  I long to be as much like you as it is possible to be.  I confess that daily I fall short of this goal.  Please forgive me of my "falling shorts", Lord!  And, teach me, through the resurrection power living within me, to "love like that" to walk .... resplendent!  In Jesus' name, amen. 

Source:

1
http://ichthys.com/Pet17.htm