Walking in Love: The Call to Imitate Our Heavenly Father
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." This familiar saying reminds us that children naturally resemble their parents—not just in appearance, but in mannerisms, speech patterns, and behaviors. As we grow up around our parents, we absorb their ways, often discovering years later that we've adopted phrases, gestures, and attitudes we witnessed throughout our childhood.
This principle of imitation lies at the heart of what it means to live as a follower of Christ. The question isn't whether we'll imitate someone—we all do. The question is: who are we imitating?
The Divine Command: Be Imitators of God
Ephesians 5:1 issues a remarkable command: "Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children." This isn't a suggestion or a nice idea for the spiritually ambitious. It's a direct command to every believer. We are called to mimic, to copy, to use as our model the very character and conduct of God Himself.
But what does God look like? Throughout Scripture, particularly in Leviticus, God declares: "Be holy, for I am holy." Holiness means being completely other—set apart, pure in motive and action, utterly different from the corruption of sin. God's holiness towers above human comprehension, yet He calls us to reflect that same holiness in our daily lives.
The challenge is sobering. Holiness isn't reserved for Sunday mornings or special occasions. It's meant to permeate every interaction—with our spouse, our children, the bank teller, the difficult coworker, the cashier who gives us too much change. Holiness in all our behavior means allowing God's character to flow through us in every circumstance.
Loved Children Walking in Love
Here's the beautiful paradox: we're commanded to be holy, yet we're addressed as "beloved children." We don't earn God's love through our holiness; rather, we pursue holiness because we are already loved. As children who have received the Father's sacrificial love, we're called to walk in that same love.
But how do we know what this love looks like in practice? Ephesians 5:2 gives us the perfect example: "Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God."
Jesus didn't love us under compulsion or with His arm twisted. He willingly laid down His life. As He said Himself, "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." This is the ultimate picture of love—self-sacrificing, others-focused, willing to go to the furthest extreme to secure the good of another.
When Jesus hung on the cross and declared "It is finished," He wasn't just ending His suffering—He was announcing that the ransom had been paid in full. The wrath that our sin deserved was poured out on Him, and remarkably, this sacrifice was described as a "fragrant offering" to God. Redemption pleased the Father.
The Contrast: Walking Away from Perversion
Having established the high calling to imitate God and walk in love, the passage then draws a stark contrast. Sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, filthy talk, foolish speech, and crude joking—these must not even be named among God's people.
This isn't popular teaching in our culture. We live in a world that celebrates self-gratification and encourages everyone to follow their desires wherever they lead. But Scripture calls us to something radically different.
Sexual immorality encompasses any sexual activity outside God's design of marriage between one man and one woman for life. Impurity includes all the filthy, degrading attitudes and actions that accompany such behavior. And interestingly, covetousness—the insatiable desire to acquire more—is linked directly with sexual sin. Why? Because both spring from the same root: uncontrolled appetite.
God has given us appetites, including sexual desire. But sin warps these good gifts into selfish lust. What our culture calls "making love" is often just mutual self-gratification—taking what doesn't belong to us, using another person for our own pleasure.
Words Matter
It's not just our actions that must be pure—our words reveal our hearts. Filthy talk, foolish speech, and crude joking may seem harmless, but they poison the atmosphere. They reinforce sinful patterns in our own minds and spread contamination to others who hear them.
Double entendres, dirty jokes, and witty but degrading humor come easily in our culture. They stick in our memories from childhood and can resurface decades later. But as people made holy by God, such speech is simply "out of place." It doesn't fit who we are.
Instead, our mouths should overflow with thanksgiving—words of grace that build others up rather than tear them down.
The Reality Check
Here's where the passage becomes uncomfortable. Everyone who is sexually immoral, impure, or covetous "has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." This isn't an opinion—it's a certainty we can "take to the bank."
Does this mean one slip-up condemns us? No. First John 1:9 assures us that when we confess our sin, God is faithful to forgive and cleanse us. But there's a difference between struggling against sin and practicing it habitually without conscience or desire to change.
Jesus said we'll know people by their fruits. If someone claims to be a Christian but shows no evidence of transformation, no hunger for holiness, no grief over sin—their profession is questionable. True children of God demonstrate family resemblance.
Walking Together Toward Holiness
We weren't meant to pursue holiness alone. Hebrews 10:24-25 calls us to "consider how to stimulate one another to love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together." We need fellow believers to encourage us, challenge us, and walk alongside us.
This means making strategic choices about our environment. We must "abhor what is evil" and "cling to what is good." We make no provision for the flesh—we don't put ourselves in situations that feed sinful desires. A recovering alcoholic doesn't hang out in bars. Someone battling lust doesn't browse tempting websites.
The Power to Change
This high calling might seem impossible, and in our own strength, it is. But God hasn't left us to struggle alone. He's given us His Holy Spirit, broken the power of sin through Christ's death and resurrection, and provided His Word to teach, correct, and train us.
The same God who loved us enough to send His Son now empowers us to walk in that love. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree—and we're branches of the True Vine, drawing life from Him.
As beloved children of a holy Father, may we imitate Him, practice purity, and encourage one another toward love and good works. This is our calling, our privilege, and by His grace, our reality.
This principle of imitation lies at the heart of what it means to live as a follower of Christ. The question isn't whether we'll imitate someone—we all do. The question is: who are we imitating?
The Divine Command: Be Imitators of God
Ephesians 5:1 issues a remarkable command: "Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children." This isn't a suggestion or a nice idea for the spiritually ambitious. It's a direct command to every believer. We are called to mimic, to copy, to use as our model the very character and conduct of God Himself.
But what does God look like? Throughout Scripture, particularly in Leviticus, God declares: "Be holy, for I am holy." Holiness means being completely other—set apart, pure in motive and action, utterly different from the corruption of sin. God's holiness towers above human comprehension, yet He calls us to reflect that same holiness in our daily lives.
The challenge is sobering. Holiness isn't reserved for Sunday mornings or special occasions. It's meant to permeate every interaction—with our spouse, our children, the bank teller, the difficult coworker, the cashier who gives us too much change. Holiness in all our behavior means allowing God's character to flow through us in every circumstance.
Loved Children Walking in Love
Here's the beautiful paradox: we're commanded to be holy, yet we're addressed as "beloved children." We don't earn God's love through our holiness; rather, we pursue holiness because we are already loved. As children who have received the Father's sacrificial love, we're called to walk in that same love.
But how do we know what this love looks like in practice? Ephesians 5:2 gives us the perfect example: "Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God."
Jesus didn't love us under compulsion or with His arm twisted. He willingly laid down His life. As He said Himself, "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." This is the ultimate picture of love—self-sacrificing, others-focused, willing to go to the furthest extreme to secure the good of another.
When Jesus hung on the cross and declared "It is finished," He wasn't just ending His suffering—He was announcing that the ransom had been paid in full. The wrath that our sin deserved was poured out on Him, and remarkably, this sacrifice was described as a "fragrant offering" to God. Redemption pleased the Father.
The Contrast: Walking Away from Perversion
Having established the high calling to imitate God and walk in love, the passage then draws a stark contrast. Sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, filthy talk, foolish speech, and crude joking—these must not even be named among God's people.
This isn't popular teaching in our culture. We live in a world that celebrates self-gratification and encourages everyone to follow their desires wherever they lead. But Scripture calls us to something radically different.
Sexual immorality encompasses any sexual activity outside God's design of marriage between one man and one woman for life. Impurity includes all the filthy, degrading attitudes and actions that accompany such behavior. And interestingly, covetousness—the insatiable desire to acquire more—is linked directly with sexual sin. Why? Because both spring from the same root: uncontrolled appetite.
God has given us appetites, including sexual desire. But sin warps these good gifts into selfish lust. What our culture calls "making love" is often just mutual self-gratification—taking what doesn't belong to us, using another person for our own pleasure.
Words Matter
It's not just our actions that must be pure—our words reveal our hearts. Filthy talk, foolish speech, and crude joking may seem harmless, but they poison the atmosphere. They reinforce sinful patterns in our own minds and spread contamination to others who hear them.
Double entendres, dirty jokes, and witty but degrading humor come easily in our culture. They stick in our memories from childhood and can resurface decades later. But as people made holy by God, such speech is simply "out of place." It doesn't fit who we are.
Instead, our mouths should overflow with thanksgiving—words of grace that build others up rather than tear them down.
The Reality Check
Here's where the passage becomes uncomfortable. Everyone who is sexually immoral, impure, or covetous "has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." This isn't an opinion—it's a certainty we can "take to the bank."
Does this mean one slip-up condemns us? No. First John 1:9 assures us that when we confess our sin, God is faithful to forgive and cleanse us. But there's a difference between struggling against sin and practicing it habitually without conscience or desire to change.
Jesus said we'll know people by their fruits. If someone claims to be a Christian but shows no evidence of transformation, no hunger for holiness, no grief over sin—their profession is questionable. True children of God demonstrate family resemblance.
Walking Together Toward Holiness
We weren't meant to pursue holiness alone. Hebrews 10:24-25 calls us to "consider how to stimulate one another to love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together." We need fellow believers to encourage us, challenge us, and walk alongside us.
This means making strategic choices about our environment. We must "abhor what is evil" and "cling to what is good." We make no provision for the flesh—we don't put ourselves in situations that feed sinful desires. A recovering alcoholic doesn't hang out in bars. Someone battling lust doesn't browse tempting websites.
The Power to Change
This high calling might seem impossible, and in our own strength, it is. But God hasn't left us to struggle alone. He's given us His Holy Spirit, broken the power of sin through Christ's death and resurrection, and provided His Word to teach, correct, and train us.
The same God who loved us enough to send His Son now empowers us to walk in that love. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree—and we're branches of the True Vine, drawing life from Him.
As beloved children of a holy Father, may we imitate Him, practice purity, and encourage one another toward love and good works. This is our calling, our privilege, and by His grace, our reality.
Posted in Book of Ephesians