“Therefore, be Imitators of God, as Dear Children.” Ephesians 5:1
I was pondering the above scripture today, in light of receiving recent pictures from my adult son, Brian, who is now in his 30s, showing him and his two boys fishing.
Fishing was something he, himself, loved to do with his own father growing up.
Brian began sharing his passion for fishing with his children at a very young age, practically before they could walk.
Here is Brian with his oldest son, Owen, when he was young. This is the same son pictured in the first picture above, but some years have gone by.
Brian’s children are growing up to “imitate him”, just as he grew up imitating his father.
Doesn’t God do the same with us?
After receiving Jesus, we begin to understand that we are in a relationship with our new Father…God! He begins to share his heart and passions with us. And, as is natural with our own fathers, as His dear children, we begin to become, through imitation, to be “like” Him…God!
To imitate means:
1. To use or follow as a model.
2. To copy the actions, appearance, mannerisms, or speech …
As they grew, I had to smile, for my son’s little guys looked just as he did as he fished with his dad…. “Full of wonder” …
“Being taken out of their comfort zone to learn how to handle the hook (scary)” …
or to “handle a fish wiggling in their hands” (oh yuk) …
And how to “face their fears of bringing in the fishes” (oh my)
or to “be still and know” that eventually a fish would bite. (Takes patience you know.) But my little grandsons did it.
Why? Because their “daddy taught them how” and “he loved fishing” and his “passion was being shared” with them.
He knew the not-so-pleasant part of fishing, would lead to the good part: the catching of fish! The joy… the excitement… the wonder… of bringing them in! (Now begin to think spiritually, if you haven’t already, of being made fishers of men as Jesus was, as His son.)
“Oh, one is biting! Should we reel the fish in, Daddy?”
“Not yet, son, he needs to have his hook set in deeper, before we can pull that one in… soon that fish will be ready for drawing in. He’ll struggle somewhat first… This will actually hook him sounder when he realizes it’s really of no use to fight the tug he’s experiencing.”
Thus, the father teaches his son the lesson that his passion to hook him needs to be greater than the fish’s desire to pull his string and struggle to get away.
Yes…. indeed… let’s look at that simple phrase again:
“Therefore, be imitators of God, as dear children.”
Let’s realize the relationship of a child to their father. We who have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior are God’s children…deeply loved, for ourselves, just as my son loves his sons. But he is showing them HIS WAYS.
Interesting to note: They can choose to imitate him or not. They have free will.
It is said that imitation is the highest, most sincere form of flattery, so indeed good fathers rejoice that their children learn from them, and follow in their mannerisms, their interests, their principles, etc.
Do you want to make God happy?
Most of us would say, Yes! …of Course!
He is your Father. So… Make Him happy, by imitating him!
It makes us “dear” to him! (smile)
I know this is a simple devotional, but sometimes simple is best. (smile)
Imitate your Daddy…GOD and give him GREAT JOY! He is called Abba by Jesus and Paul, which is an Aramaic word for father (daddy), meaning they were in a relationship of person intimacy.
Romans 8:15 says:
“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but have received the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry “Abba! Father!
So, we see, it’s not just Jesus and Paul that can call God “Father”, but every average-joe Christian, can! Hallelujah!
And He will impart things to you, you never dreamed… just by “watching Him” …observing “His Ways”…seeing how He treats people with love… etc.
The best way to know how to imitate him is to KNOW HIM.
Know His Words. Listen to His Voice speak to your heart. Spend time quietly with him…as these boys are doing alongside their daddy.
He is continually instructing, and showing you how to do things, if you’ll only pay attention. (smile) May we all be imitators of our wonderful heavenly Father!
He is worthy of our imitation!
Now, this article just wouldn’t be complete without showing you “the father” above (Brian), as “ the son” for they are ONE…
The Father AS
the Son
Hmm…A thought:
Does that bolded statement above, that I just made, remind you of someone named Jesus? Who is the Son of God, but is Himself God?
Worth Pondering…
As I was putting this article in my book, and was uploading the father as the son picture, here at this chapter’s close, I suddenly began to ponder something, and I wonder if it is indeed the Spirit speaking… so I’ll speak “my thoughts” …
Is there a mystery concerning Jesus, that we have yet to discover?
Worth pondering, since Jesus himself said, in John 10:30, “I and my Father are One.”
Believers, even I, have believed this to mean that Jesus was One with the Father in purpose, heart, intent… and was united with, equal to, and in one accord with the Father.
But then we see Isaiah 9:6 which reads, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
This passage is about the Lord Jesus! We Christians stumble on this passage, because it is giving the name Everlasting Father to Jesus!
And the Jews have stumbled on Jesus due a verse that they hang onto in Deuteronomy 6:4 which reads, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.” They reject Jesus because they can’t reconcile the fact that Jesus himself declares that He is himself God, for then there wouldn’t be just one LORD in their reasoning or understanding.
But wait, take a look back at Isaiah 9:6! It is calling Jesus “The Mighty God”! A title that we’d give Father God.
So what if they ARE One?
I’m not inventing a doctrine, friends, just giving a little food for thought, at a question that just came to my mind… the doctrine of the trinity is an amazing one! What if when Jesus had spiritual sons he became as The Father…just as my son, when he had sons became the Father for his family? A curious notion. Yet when he was down on earth he could talk to The Father through the Spirit? And yet II Cor 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” And in the same verse above, Isaiah 9:6, it calls Jesus “Wonderful Counselor”, yet we think of the Holy Spirit in this regard. So, they are all three, One! Father God, Jesus the Lord, and Holy Spirit.
I can’t wait to get to heaven to have some of these amazing mysteries revealed to us! I bet you can’t either! (smile)
Again I say, I’m only “declaring mystery”…not giving doctrine. Maybe God will have some of you “study it out”. It’s beyond my finite mind at this time. (smile)
Until that time, it is just so awesome to do as this lesson says, to imitate our Father as a dearly loved son.
Amen!