Imitating God’s Love

Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2 CSB)

My dad has always had a workshop wherever we’ve lived. He spends a lot of time there building cabinets and other wood pieces. Sometimes he’ll find broken pieces of furniture and mend them, making them like new again. As a kid, I spent many hours with him in his workshop, watching him work and pretending to work myself, hammering nails into boards or sawing them in half. I enjoyed being with my dad and watching what he did.

Occasionally, he would invite me into his project to help in the little ways I could—tightening a vise grip, sanding down wood edges, and handing him tools. Once he helped me make my own cabinet to store my collectibles, which became my nightstand. I was interested to learn what he knew and enjoyed spending time getting to know him in one of his favorite places.

I’m sure there were times when I got in his way or slowed down his progress, but I never felt like a hindrance or nuisance. I was always welcome. I had an open invitation into his workshop, and he’d take time to interact with me when I came. My act of joining him in his favorite place was an expression of my love for my dad, and he knew it. His reception of me was likewise an expression of his love for me, and I knew it.

One of the most essential components of our relationship with God is believing that we are his dearly loved children. If we don’t feel seen, loved, and accepted, we lose our desire to reflect God’s love and goodness to others. It’s critical that we know God loves us, delights in us, accepts us, and calls us worthy. Thankfully, we can search the Bible and find all of the wonderful things he calls us and believes us to be.

Once we know how much God loves us, it follows that we would be interested in spending more time with him. We love being around people who think highly of us and encourage us. When we spend time with God, we’ll learn about him and discover his passions, his dislikes, and the way he treats others. Obviously, the person of Christ shows us a great deal about how God loves and what he finds important. He loves people. All of them. No one is beneath him. Every individual, regardless of social status, is worthy of his attention and care. Studying the life of Jesus in the Bible can teach us a lot about God’s heart and how to love like him.

Another way to learn more about how to imitate God is through prayer. We can ask God to show us how to love others like he does. We can ask him to cultivate the fruit of the spirit in us and to increase our compassion and grace toward others. We can seek to see others through his eyes and develop the tenderness he has for all people, especially those who are hurting.

God is always at work, and he invites us to participate in his work. He purposefully created us in this time and place and with specific gifts and abilities to love those around us. He wants his love to spread around the world so that everyone knows that they are seen, known, and accepted by him.

When Jesus demonstrated a life lived on purpose, it involved discomfort and sacrifice. We’re also asked to sacrifice in order to share God’s love with others. It may mean awkward conversations, disrupting our plans for God’s divine opportunities, or maybe even personal hardship. We can be encouraged, knowing that Christ sacrificed for us and sacrifice shows the true measure of one’s love for another.

Lord, we know that you love us and created us to be a reflection of your love to the world. Please help us to use our gifts and abilities to spread your love to those around us. Give us courage to willingly sacrifice our comfort, security, and possessions in order to love others on your behalf. May we be spurred on by the love you have shown us. Thank you for the example of Jesus who was willing to sacrifice everything for us. Amen.

Scripture for Reflection

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1 NIV)

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8 NIV)

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10 CSB)

From one man he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, “For we are also his offspring.” (Acts 17:26-28 CSB)

Reach for More

Do you feel like a deeply loved child of God? If not, ask him to reveal his love for you. Do you imitate God’s love to those around you well? How do you use your time, talents, and resources to share God’s love with others? Share it with us on social media using the hashtag #tgtreachformore.

Megan Byrd is an author, blogger, and SAHM. She lives with her husband, two children, and cat in Georgia. Megan likes to read, travel, exercise, attend cultural events, and learn. She blogs at meganbyrd.net.

Photograph © Priscilla Du Preez, used with permission