In Ephesians, chapter 4.25-5.1, the apostle Paul commanded the Ephesians to put away the sins that they were committing. Sins of lying, anger, giving place to the Devil, stealing, corrupt talk, grieving the Holy Spirit, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking malice and such sins like these. With each sin that he enumerates, he also gives the antidote for it.
Those antidotes include putting away lying, speaking the truth, not sinning in anger, avoiding sinning, “not going to bed angry,” not giving place to the Devil, not stealing, work in doing something good in helping others, watching their language, edifying each other, not grieving the Holy Spirit, not being bitter, not being wrathful, not being angry, not being clamorous, not speaking evil, putting away malice.
Truly all that the Ephesians needed to do was to do the opposite of what they were doing. He then concludes his list with the command to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” As I was considering this list of sins that were so prevalent with the Ephesians, it dawned on me that really all the Ephesians had to do was to read and follow the command in the next verse of chapter 5 (verse one).
That text says, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.” If they had only remembered Whom they were to follow, and Whom they were to imitate, then every problem they were experiencing spiritually would have disappeared! It seems to me that what was good for the Ephesians would also be good for us. What is it? Imitation!
That reminds me of a commercial that appeared many years ago on television. A boy follows his father and does whatever the father does. After a few times of imitating his father, the father smokes a Camel cigarette and puts the pack on the ground. The next thing you see is the little boy looking into the pack of cigarettes. That is the epitome of imitation, doing what someone else does. However, when it comes to imitation we need to be very careful whom we imitate. The Ephesians were imitating the people around them and in doing so they were sinning. The same principle applies to us!
Now, consider Ephesians 5.1 again. That passage applies to you and me! The principle is to imitate God because we are His children!
Think about it!
Kevin Williams
