The Influence in Imitating Christ
Be ye therefore
followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved
us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet smelling savior. Ephesians 5:1-2
Who in your life
have you imitated in some way?
Parents? Siblings?
Teacher? Maybe even a fictional character?
But to what end?
What has imitating these brought to us?
Imitating means to
Show and Tell, just like the one you are following. Imitation has an
influence over the follower. It can be good or bad influence. In our case, it’s
following Jesus Christ in whatever we do and wherever we are. And this is what
the world is looking for, so they can follow our Faith.
Paul says in 1
Corinthians 11:1 be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. As believers and
Christians we should be imitating those who follow Christ, those that live the
life of the fear of God. Can we really expect to get anything from God if we
are not imitating His son?
How many of us can
say we have really tried to imitate Jesus?
It seems so
obvious but is so difficult in reality. Because most of us are busy imitating
the world and its systems.
Jesus gave His
life so that we had the choice of how to live our lives: imitate Him or pursue
selfish desires. This verse simply explains whom we should look at as an
example. The rest is up to us.
God has to forgive
us for selfishly being unwilling to sacrifice ourselves to Him.
We should ask that
He strengthen our resolve in the future, reminding us to follow in the clear
example that He graciously sent to us, to die for our sins, the Son of man/Jesus.
With this new found resolve, we shall imitate Jesus Christ, and live as an
example to all others, spreading God’s love to all that encounter us.
The influence
in imitating Christ is that:
l
Imitating
Christ draws us closer to God
l
Imitating
Christ brings the kingdom of God to us
l
Imitating
Christ gives us a new life in Him
l
Imitating
Christ makes us beneficiaries of the inheritances of heaven
l
Imitating
Christ makes us to be more and more of Him
l
Imitating
Christ gives hope for living
Like Apostle Paul
we are then able to say Galatians 2:20, it is no longer I who lives but Christ
in me.
And Colossians
1:27, Christ in me the Hope of Glory.
Bishop Nzvimbo
@May 2021
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