Challenge: Imitation, not Checklists

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;  Eph 5:1 NASB

This verse is in the middle of a list of practical ways to live the Christian life, and it serves as a bit of a reminder – a drawing back of the mind, so to speak:  Just as we never could earn God’s favor through the keeping of the law, so we cannot continue in His favor by seeking to complete a checklist of do’s and don’ts. 

In the words of the Newsboys, “It’s just a Spirit thing.”

I am a checklist person.  When the Bible tells me to imitate Christ, I need practical, tangible ways to make that happen.  But, I’m not sure the practical guides of the New Testament are checklists as much as they are goals.  I think Paul is saying, “Here are all of the things that you need to do.  So, imitate God, and the result will be that you will do these things.” 

There is no checklist to imitating God.  There are tangible examples of what that imitation will look like, but even if I were to be able to put a checkmark beside every single thing Paul listed throughout His letters, I still wouldn’t be any closer to imitating God.  The imitation comes from intimacy.  From getting to know Him.  From the growing family resemblance as my adoption becomes more and more a part of me. 

This is not a new struggle for me.  I have long wrestled with a checklist of  tasks I feel I need to work through that I may look like Christ, and I’m sure the battle will continue.  I will continue to need the reminder of Eph 5:1.  My challenge is to need it less and less.  To imitate God now, one day, one hour, one minute at a time, that the picture presented in Ephesians might be a picture of me – a true imitator of God.