Imitating My Father

Ephesians 5:1

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

I don’t really like broccoli that much but I love spinach. I like boiled peanuts, pecan pie, and jelly with my eggs. Fixing my car is both a challenge and something I enjoy. Why pay someone else to fix it before I’ve even given it a shot? When I eat out at a restaurant I like to sit in a booth against the wall where I can see the entire restaurant. I lock my car doors in the driveway, have a strong sense of justice, and I’m often overprotective of my wife. In each of these ways I am a direct carbon copy of my father. I have been since I was born. His love for me was never anything I had to question. As a result, I mimicked him in many ways. Some likenesses, such as being protective of my wife are nothing more than unconscious habits. Other resemblances of my dad, like putting jelly on my eggs, are just something I do to be like him.

As a child of God, I am to resemble my Heavenly Father as much as I do my earthly one. I am to love all people equally including those who hate me. My life is to be one lived selflessly, compassionate of all people, and above reproach. I must be fair and just in all my decisions; I cannot ignore the truth nor speak deception. My word must be trustworthy and my promises final. I will love others greater than myself and turn down no one in need. All of this is a result of my Heavenly Father’s love for me. Because I am His beloved child, it should be my desire to emulate Him in everything I do.

How well do you resemble your Father, the Creator of the Universe? I would be deceiving you if I led you to believe that I resemble God as much as I resemble my dad. Does this leave it excusable? By no means, it only goes to show that I don’t know Him as well as think I do. Growing up, I was blessed to have such a consistent and loving dad in my life. Had he not been there to show me his love and to model for me the way he lives his life, I would be a completely different person. To imitate someone else, you must first have a consistent and close relationship with them. When this analogy is brought over to my Heavenly Father I find that I am the only one responsible for any lack of depth in our relationship. He promises to always love me and to always be near. This truth has been more than evident in my own life. There are seasons where I am anything but faithful to spending time with the Lord on a regular basis. Nonetheless, He is always receptive of me upon returning to Him. When will I realize that my resemblance to the Heavenly Father will only take shape once I dedicate my time to Him?

Have you come to this realization yet or do you still live far from the Lord and somehow believe that you will one day look back on a life that resembled His? If it is your desire to imitate your God, if it is your desire to one day hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant,” then you must first make it a priority to know Him more fully. I am strikingly similar to my father because there was a healthy two-way relationship for the eighteen years I lived under his roof. How healthy is your relationship with the Heavenly Father?