Be imitators of God, as beloved children

“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.”

In chapter 4 of Ephesians which is included in the daily chronological reading of the One Year Bible, Paul writes of the spiritual gifts God gives to individuals for His purposes in the building up of His church.

He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God 

He continues exhorting them and us in this unity of the faith with the ways we and our relationships should be changed in our new life in Christ. That's what brings us to the opening verse in chapter 5, Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. What does it mean to be an imitator of God? In ."Leviicus 11:44 God  says " For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy..."  So as imitators of God we are called to be holy. This holy living is what Paul is describing and calling us to in verses 2-5.

Let's look though at Pauls contrast of light and darkness which he encourages us to walk in as we imitate God. 1 John 1:5 says  God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. So walking in light is a critical aspect of being an imitator of God. What really stood out to me in this passage was not so much how we are called to be light but rather how that causes us to respond to darkness. Let's look again at the last few verses from above. ¹¹ Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; ¹² for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. ¹³ But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.

Do not participate in deeds of darkness, but instead expose them. Let's look carefully though at just what this exposing of darkness is to be. Paul says it is disgraceful even to speak of things which are done by them in secret. So the exposing that we are called to do is not to talk about all of the depravity and moral decay that surrounds us. We are not to go into the disgusting details of the things that are done in darkness. Paul says it is disgraceful even to talk about it. Verse 13 says But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light. So the exposing we are to do is by shining light rather than speaking of darkness.

Darkness is expanded and empowered when we talk about it, when we debate about it. When we allow ourselves to enter into the darkness to try to over come darkness with our words we diminish the true power that we possess, Light.  In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus says ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; ¹⁵ nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 

That's the result we're after, that God would be glorified. Paul says we should be imitators of God. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. How does God respond to darkness? God never changes. Let's see what He did in the begining. Genesis 1: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. ³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

God didn't go into a lengthy dissertation about darkness. He brought forth light.

 One final though on being an imitator of God regarding light. In truth we do not need to imitate God to shine light. When we do that we become a merely reflection of God's light, just as the moon has no light in itself and merely reflects the light of the sun. Under perfect conditions the moons reflection of the sun's light produces a substancial light. But there are many things that can hinder and cloud the brightness of the reflection, at times causing there to be no light at all. When we strive to be a reflection of God's light what others see is still distorted by our flesh. Even under the best circumstances our reflection of God's light will pale in comparrison to His true light.  Why not just shine the light of God? If rather than trying to clean up and  polish ourselves to better reflect light, if we become transparent, if we allow Christ in us to increase while we decrease, people can see the true light. God in us. Why be a moon when the Son lives in you?! 

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus the True Light, Holy Spirit, thank You that You have called me to the high calling of being an imitator of God. Thank You that You enable me to do and be that and even more. Through You I can be more than a reflection of You. You have chosen to abide in me. Increase in me Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That I might shine Your light, the True Light and so expose the darkness by the Light.  Amen