Looking To The Cross | Day 27 | Ephesians 5:2

My daughter sitting in a chair with a book, like her dad, even though she could not read.

My son playing a guitar, like his dad, even though it was made out of cardboard.

By nature, children look like their parents, and, by nature, children want to be like their parents. Adopted children do not share their parents’ genetics, but they do share the inclination to imitate their parents; like my adopted son who would sit with his toy laptop next to me with my laptop. If we, though evil (Matthew 7:11), have children who imitate us, how much more should we imitate our Heavenly Father?

The focus of the opening verses of Ephesians 5 is love. We are described as beloved children. We are instructed to walk in love. And we are given the example of how Christ loved. Since we are loved, we ought to love, and that in the same way in which we have been loved. 

I hesitate to ask of my kids anything that I am unwilling to do myself. How unfathomable is it that God calls us to love sacrificially and can point to his own love for us in Christ as the example for us to follow? By the very nature of his being, God has the authority to command us to love. But by the nature of his goodness, kindness, and grace he first loved us and gave himself for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Our highest calling is to love. The highest grace is that we have been loved in the way in which we are to love. Let us be imitators of God and let our imitation be cause for exaltation because what we are asked to give is what we have already received.