Be Imitators of God : Rachel Cook

Be imitators of God in everything you do, for then you will represent your Father as his beloved sons and daughters. - Ephesians 5:1 TPT

 We are called to represent Jesus on earth.  To represent, is simply to Re-Present something or someone to a different group of listeners.  Let’s think about this for a minute: Why did God send Jesus to earth? We could have a simple and correct answer that says, “To save us from our sins,” but let me ask you…how?  How are we saved from our sins? 

Jesus did not come to earth…go through everything He went through…die on the Cross for a magic potion that saved us from our sins.  God sent Jesus to earth to give us an example of how to walk out humanity. We must apply the way Jesus walked and talked during His time on earth, to our sinful human nature, while we are here on earth, to be saved from that sin. 

Think about it…if gossip is my sin, and I apply Ephesians 4:29 (Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen), I have been freed and saved from the sin of gossip!  Simple!

2 Timothy 3:16-17 TPT says, God has transmitted His very substance into every Scripture, for it is God-breathed. It will empower you by its instruction and correction, giving you the strength to take the right direction and lead you deeper into the path of godliness. Then you will be God’s servant, fully mature and perfectly prepared to fulfill any assignment God gives you.

If being Christ-like was impossible, the Bible would tell us that; but the truth is, it tells us the opposite…AND it tells us how to BE Christ-like.

In Romans 8:9, the Bible tells us that “we are predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His son.”  Making us Christ-like is God’s work, and HE WILL see it through to the end; He says that in Philippians 1:6!

There is only one way to accomplish imitating Christ, and it isn’t to memorize the Scriptures; it’s to apply it to your life, and believe that you can Re-Present Jesus today. Someone needs YOU to show them Jesus. Remember, it’s not in the easy times you imitate or mimic Jesus.  It is when people push against you that you do. 

We have a different group of listeners, so who is going to rise up and Re-Present Jesus to the world? Who will humble themselves and realize their opinion is not the highest thing in the room?  Who will give of their time to a selfish person?  Who will serve the haughty? 

If you have really experienced the Anointed One, and heard His truth, it will be seen in your life; for we know that the ultimate reality is embodied in Jesus. - Ephesians 4:21 TPT