Walking in Love

Ephesians 5:1-2 ESV

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

When we imitate God with our lives, we are not mimicking nor are we impersonating him like some actors and comedians imitate other well-known people for the purpose of entertaining them. For us to imitate God is to emulate him, to copy and to reproduce him in thinking, speaking, attitude, motivation, and behaviors. His purpose is now to be our purpose. His thinking is now to be our thinking. His will is now to be our will. And his character is now to be our character. We are now to be his followers.

Now, this doesn’t mean that we are perfect as he is perfect, for we won’t be perfect until Jesus returns and he takes his faithful ones to be with him for eternity, which is when our salvation will be complete and our marriage to Christ will be spiritually consummated. But it does engage how we walk in practice and in conduct. Are we following Jesus Christ with our lives in conduct and in practice day by day? And is it our practice to emulate him in character, in attitude, in speech, and in our behaviors?

And then we are to walk in love as part of our daily walk of faith in Jesus Christ. But this love is not like human love. For I can love ice cream, or I can love taking a walk, or I can love listening to good music, and it is not necessarily the same kind of love as this. For this love comes from God, who is love, and so this is divine love which prefers what God prefers. And what he prefers is what is holy, righteous, obedient to him, morally pure, upright, godly, honest, and faithful, etc. 

So, if we are walking in love, this means we are walking (in conduct, in practice) in a lifestyle which prefers what is holy, righteous, obedient to God, morally pure, honest, and faithful, etc. So we are no longer going to walk in deliberate and habitual sin, and we will not refuse to obey our Lord’s commands (New Covenant), and we will not willfully do what we know is evil and that will hurt other people. But we will show others love and kindness, which also includes speaking the truth in love to one another.

For Jesus Christ and his walk on this earth are our model to follow for how we ought to live. It doesn’t mean we will do everything that he did, for God has gifted us all in different ways, but we should be actively doing the kinds of things he did, and we should all be sharing the truth of the gospel with others and refuting the lies which are sending people to hell on the promise of heaven when they die. We should do this in order to save lives from hell and to lead people to the way to salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

But when we do this, and we emulate our Lord, and we do the kinds of things that he did, and we say the things that he said, and that his NT apostles taught, and so we walk in love, and we speak the truth in love, and we share the truth of the gospel, and we call out the lies of the enemy, then we should expect to be treated like Jesus was treated, too. We should anticipate that we are not going to be well liked, but we will be opposed, and we will be hated and mistreated, and we may even be killed for our faith.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

Video Talk

https://youtu.be/j-PcOpP5Op0 

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Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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