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

Dressed Right

Good morning,

Do you ever have that dream where you are out in public somewhere and, suddenly, you realize you are naked?!  I do.  It's terrible!  True disclosure (pun intended): I have it pretty often.  I think of that when I read the passage that just precedes today's passage.  The verse is in the passage we looked at yesterday.

4 For we groan while we are in this tent, since we are weighed down, because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

2 Cor. 5:4 (NET)

Clothes say a lot about a person.  I've heard it said that, in the job world, you ought to dress for the next position you desire.  So, if you are a mid-level manager, you should dress like a manager, in anticipation of that promotion coming to pass.  Who first clothed mankind in the Garden of Eden? God did.  In Genesis 3:21, we read that God killed an animal, skinned it and made clothes for Adam and Eve to wear.  Nakedness, even from the beginning, symbolized incompleteness.

Paul uses the analogy of clothes often to describe the Christian life, or what I call "the resplendent walk".  He uses this analogy briefly here in 2 Cor. 5, but I want to also show you other places he talks about "being dressed right". Before we do that, though, look at what Isaiah said in 61:10 ---

I greatly rejoice in the LORD, I exult in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a groom wears a turban and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (HCSB)

Now, this is an interesting verse.  Some theologians want to distinguish between these two "spiritual garments" - - - the garment of salvation being one, the robe of righteousness being another.  It is an interesting distinction.  The theological point made is that God gives us salvation through Jesus Christ, and this is symbolized by the salvation garment.  But, the robe of righteousness is an additional piece that He dresses us in.
Now, to Paul:

26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Galatians 3:26-27 (NET)

Paul emphasizes here, as he does elsewhere, that salvation comes by faith, not by good works.  By accepting Christ, through faith, we become sons of God.  This act has "clothed us with Christ". Beyond that transformational decision, we are also commanded by Paul to adorn ourselves with the characteristics of Jesus, to imitate Him in our daily lives.  This does not secure our salvation; it is a manifestation of what has already been done in our hearts.  In this way, we "reflect" Christ.

14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to arouse its desires.  

Romans 13:14 (NET)

12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,

Colossians 3:12 (NET)

So, our righteousness comes from God the Father, through Christ the Son.  That is indisputable. However, we are responsible for making spiritually healthy choices as we live the Christian life.  This is how we "clothe ourselves".  It is a conscious act on our part, analogous to "taking up one's cross daily and following Jesus" (Matt. 16:24).  Now, look at today's passage, lol.  (You were beginning to think we wouldn't get there, weren't you?!)

6 Therefore we are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth we are absent from the Lord— 7 for we live by faith, not by sight. 8 Thus we are full of courage and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So then whether we are alive or away, we make it our ambition to please him.10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil.

2 Cor. 5:6-10 (NET)

Notice the phrase "make it our ambition to please Him". This is the conscious act of "putting on Christ" daily.  Paul goes on to say that we will have to give an account of all that the Lord Jesus has blessed us with in this life, in this body.  Our salvation is secure.  Our eternal destiny is fixed.  "There is therefore now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1).  But, and I've blogged about this in previous posts - - - I'll try to find which one and post it under "Sources:" - - - all of us Believers will be given rewards at this "judgment" seat...or not.  Some of us may stand there nearly naked, clothed only in our salvation garment!  Not too long ago, we studied 1 Cor. 3:12-13 and saw that our actions after salvation will be tested by fire, and that some of them will be "burned up" like wood or hay or kindling.  Not cool!

Well, I want to be dressed right on that great judgment day, clad not only in my salvation garment, but also adorned with the beautiful jewelry of Christ-likeness.  I'm dressing for the next position I desire!

Good morning, Father.  Thank you for securing my salvation and clothing me in salvation.  I also realize that my righteousness comes from Your Holy Spirit living within me, bestowed on me through Your mercy.  In light of that truth, and because of how grateful I am for it, I choose to imitate my Savior.  Well, at least I try to most of the time, because I want to please You.  I confess I'm nowhere near 100% in that effort.  Help me be more like Him as I look more like Him.  In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Sources:

Resplendent Daughter blog: Honor's Day
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=967525413435341031#editor/target=post;postID=1129579313904961451;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=44;src=postname

Matthew Harmon's post at jesus.org:
http://www.jesus.org/following-jesus/discipleship/what-does-it-mean-to-be-clothed-in-christ.html

Not All Smiles

Good morning,

Not all smiles are created equal.  Last night, I saw a Facebook meme in which a woman is smiling while holding a sign that says, "My abortion was fabulous.  Thanks."

Sorry, I'm not buying it.

Although each of us is born a sinner, we are made in the image of God.  It goes against the image of God for a person to enjoy murder.  For that reason, I believe that people who appear to rejoice in their sin repeatedly are either "faking it" (their joy) or they have had their consciences deeply scarred.

In 1 Timothy 4:2, Paul describes this as follows:

Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

When this type of spiritual scarring happens, it results from repeated acts of evil by the person him/herself or because evil has been repeatedly perpetrated upon a person, so that they see no other course of action but to "reproduce" what they have known.  In many such cases, the desperate one is so deceived that he or she is totally out of touch with his or her pain.  That is how deeply it is buried.

So, no, not all smiles are equal.  Sometimes, a smile is an act of defiance, a deliberate attempt to camouflage the deepest agonies of the soul.

But, as long as there is physical life, there is hope.
There is grace greater than all my sin, your sin...anyone's sin, everyone's sin.
The blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse and restore even the vilest of sinners.

I don't know what all the crimes were, ascribed to the thief who hung beside Jesus on the cross. (Luke 23:40-43) The Bible does not elaborate.  But, I do know that Jesus heard his dying plea and rescued his soul right there on the spot.  Such is the grace and mercy of our Savior.

Christian, when you see things like that meme, does your heart break?  Our hearts often hurt when we see a young child fighting cancer, or someone with a physical deformity, or even an animal about to be "put down".  But, when we see someone with a sickness unto spiritual death, our reaction is often animosity or, worse, indifference.

"Oh, WE don't do that?!"

Really?  Take a look:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1004775329542529&set=gm.1046566905388605&type=1&theater

Did you read the comments people had made?  I wonder how many of them would call themselves Christians?

Imitation - - - Paul exhorted the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11:1 to imitate him because he imitated Christ.  And, that is God's scriptural command to us today, via the apostle Paul.  The dictionary defines the word "imitate" as: to model oneself on, to copy, to echo.
What do you think Jesus' response would have been to this woman in the picture?  Would He have called her names like, "killbilly" or "it"?  Would He have said she made him "barf"?  Would He have thanked her for killing her baby?

Those Facebook comments don't echo the truth of Jesus, His righteousness and His love, with that woman or others like her.  Those comments reek of self-righteous hatred.

Do we really believe that what we say we believe is really real?  Do we?
Do we have any INKLING of the extent of the love of Jesus?
Do we really believe that Jesus paid it ALL, that He can save "even the least of these"?
That was me - - - "the least of these".  That was you too, if He has saved your soul.
And, He died for this woman in the picture, as well as billions more like her, with all their sin wounds, with all their pain, with all their fake smiles.

Do we really believe that what we say we believe is really real?  Do we?
If we do, what are we going to do about it?
Are we going to imitate Christ, whose name we bear?

Lord God, when you say that your Word is alive, and powerful, and sharper than any double-edged sword, (Hebrews 4:12) I think that this is what you mean.  Imitating my Savior, at all times....I don't do that.  Your Word is so challenging, so convicting to me that it often feels like a scalpel cutting the rot out of my soul.  Help me, Holy Spirit, please help me model my life after His.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Additional Source:
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=imitate%20definition