Baba Bishop speaks on " The Influence of Imitating Christ"

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.