Imitations

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children." - Ephesians 5:1

Often children model their parents, they copy them, they want to be like them when they grow up. And why do they? I think it's because whether they know it or not, they are loved and cared for by their parents, within whom they have security.

And so similarly, we can be imitators of God when we recognize we are His children, loved by Him.

Let me explain further...

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear..." - 1 John 4:18

I think we are all searching for something to love us whether we realize it or not.

I believe this because I also believe that we were created for the Father, to be in union with Him, and to be known by Him. We were created to be loved by God, and know it. We were made to embrace His love and live in His love and to give it as well.

And there is nothing like the love of Christ, because unlike everyone else's, His is perfect.

The difference between His love and what the world offers is that unlike the world's, His doesn't run out. And it's because of this reason that His love can satisfy us.

It just makes sense to me that I can't be satisfied in anything else like I can in Christ because He is the only One who doesn't run out.

True satisfaction can only be found from something that's endless, something perfectly constant. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." - Hebrews 13:8

Jesus is the only one.

Everything else will change, fall away, diminish, run out and die.

So to continue then:

I think when we really understand and embrace perfect love, we won't remain the same, we can't remain the same... Proof of perfect love understood and embraced is that it brings about the response of wanting, longing, desiring to be like our Father, to imitate Him.

And so the more we recognize, embrace, and seek to grow in the understanding of His love the more it will satisfy us, keeping us from seeking empty love within the world.

"Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through Your word." - Psalm 119:37

And so we become better imitators of God the more we understand how loved by Him we are.

So the next question then is:

How do we grow in the understanding of the depths of God's love for us?

I can think of at least 2 ways:

I think it's found simply within our honest seeking of Him, our worshipping Him.

But an even more specific way, I think to grow in the knowledge of His love for us means we must grow in the understanding of our humanness.

When we see how sinful we truly are we then see how much we need Him and how much He has done for us. I believe that our understanding of the depths of His love is directly related to our understanding of who He is and what He's done for us despite our sin.

We are called to be imitations of God and so we must grow in gratitude of what He's done.

David was known as the man after God's own heart.

Check out David's words in Psalm 77 as despite his great distress and troubles he recalls the faithfulness and many deeds of the Lord.

I think David lived a life of gratitude and I think it was because he knew he was loved.

Lord, take us deeper in the understanding of Your love for us so that we can continue to become more like You and bring You glory like we were created to do. Overwhelm us, captivate us, open our eyes, open our hearts and minds, we want more of You.