Devotion 4: Imitators of Christ
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I think I began to appreciate that phrase more fully when I started dating my wife. When I first met her, her vocabulary (as well as mine) was a lot different than it is today. As we spent more and more time together, we began to mimic one another in our mannerisms and phrases that we commonly said. There came a day when I realized that my wife had used a phrase three or four times in the span of a few hours that I had never heard her using just a few months prior. I felt an immense amount of pride and love when I realized that the phrase that she was using was one that she had picked up from me. I was proud that she thought I was hilarious enough to copy, but I also felt loved because she listened to the way I talked intently enough that it showed subconsciously in her speech. Our passage today asks us to keep this idea of imitation in mind as we grow in our walk with the Lord.
Ephesians 4:15-16 says, “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” This verse calls for Christians to grow to be as much like Christ as we possibly can be. As a Christian or “mini-Christ,” we are expected to be as close a representation of Him as we can be. We are called to be ambassadors for Him in a broken and dark world in need of a Savior. We are, of course, flawed and sinful people who can never hope to match a fragment of the majesty and holiness of God, but we are expected to continuously grow in every way to be as Christ-like as possible.
This is a very popular verse, and for good reason. We all struggle with the task of representing Christ well. For some of us, in an attempt to lead people to the grace and forgiveness found in Jesus, we will communicate the truth of God’s Word but do so in a brute-force fashion. Here, in this passage, Paul is calling us to communicate the truth of God in love instead. Make sure that you speak with a gentle demeanor and show the person who you are speaking with that you are a safe person to talk to. Of course, we are supposed to aid people in repenting and believing in Christ. Since we love the people close to us, that means that we must speak the truth to them. Since we know the truth, love has to be what is most prominent in us, even when we call someone to cut out the sinful things in their lives.
Christ had an offensive message in His day, and of course, that did not stop Him from speaking truth to people, but He always did so with a tenderheartedness that characterized God’s love. The best way that you can imitate Christ and show your love for Him and others is by loving them enough to tell them the truth with a careful gentleness that will demonstrate the love of Jesus to them.