Be imitators of God; love others as Christ loved us! These words of Paul in his letter to the
Ephesians give us a powerful image. That
image challenges us to imitate God by imitating Christ. Is Paul correct? Can we really imitate God by imitating Christ?
To imitate means to mimic, to be or act like, to copy. Thus, we can only imitate what we know. We cannot imitate someone we do not
know. We learn the most about who God is
and how He acts primarily from Jesus himself.
Thus, we cannot imitate God unless we know Christ.
Jesus came to show us the Father. Jesus said to Phillip, “He who sees me sees
the Father” (Jn 12:45). Jesus shows us
over and over in his parables and in the way he lived that God’s love is
unlimited. Through Jesus, we learn that
God is a healer. God is open to all
people. God forgives much. God is slow to anger. God is patient. God rarely accuses. God is generous with his mercy. God does not hold grudges. God weeps—yes, weeps—in the face of stubborn
injustice. God inspires people to search
for truth, and to leave their old ways behind.
Surely we can do similar things for others. In our communities, we can be open to all
people. In our families, we can heal
rifts. In our marriages, we can forgive
and we can humbly seek forgiveness. With
our adult children, we can let go of grudges.
With our young children, we can join in those things they think are
important instead of criticizing and rejecting their preferences. In our workplaces, we can work for justice,
especially just wages.
By our words and actions, we can be life-giving and
life-affirming. We can inspire our
families and friends to search for truth and to abandon old, destructive
ways. We can be light for the world and
salt for the earth. Like Jesus, we can
share our own experience of God with others.
We can bring the love of Christ to others.
Paul was right. With
faith and love, we can imitate God by imitating Christ in our daily lives.
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