Be Imitators of God

This is in a way a follow up of what I wrote last week "Abba Father". Here in Ephesians 5:1 Paul admonished us to "be imitators of God as dearly loved children". So far we have learned that because of what Christ did on the cross, "to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God" (John 1:12-13). So as a dearly loved child, my job is to imitate God. How do I do that?

Here I find the Message Translation of Ephesians 5:1-2 quite helpful:
"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 a sermon by Robert Hudson, he drew a distinction between imitation and imitator:
"In verse 1 we have Paul talking to us about imitating God. He is not asking us to be cheap imitations that are obviously fake, he is asking us to be imitators in its truest form... What do children imitate? Children watch the people around them and learn from them. For the most part children learn their behaviors from their parents. So what is the scripture telling us to do here? Imitate God like a child imitates his or her parents. In other words we are to learn about Jesus attitudes and behaviors and imitate them. We need to be passionate about what Jesus was passionate about and do what Jesus did."

So it's Jesus attitude, behaviours, and his passion we are to imitate. I can immediately think of one:
"You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death —even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:5-8)

And what does true (not imitation) humility look like? And how do I practice it? Here the Book of Philippians has the answer:
"Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well." (Philippians 2:3-4)

It's not so easy to always treat others as more important than myself, unless,
"Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any affection or mercy, complete my joy and be of the same mind, by having the same love, being united in spirit, and having one purpose." (Philippians 2:1-2)
This is the preamble to practising humility like Jesus. We must be in a position of receiving encouragement in Christ, comforted by His love, having fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and regularly receiving affection and mercy.

It always boils down to this:
- spend time with Jesus
- listen to His words and be encouraged by His love
- keep watch in every day event how the Spirit works in my life and the life of others
- and regularly give thanks:
"O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever." (Psalm 136:1)