On January 29th the Elders at Lagrange Baptist Church will conduct a panel discussion on Origins and Genesis. The panel will be held at the church at 5:30 PM. I would like to gather some questions from you that we might be able to address at this panel. I also may use some of your questions as the basis for future blog posts. So, please help us out and submit a question or more. You can submit more than one question by taking the survey again.
Thanks, Mark
Many people want to know a couple of things about God. One, does he answer prayer, and two, why does he require his followers to be holy? The answer to these two questions is closely linked. In one sense we know that God answers all prayers for there is nothing that God does not know and no voice that God does not hear, but we also know that this does mean that God grants all men and women a favorable response to their prayers, and that is really what we are after here. Does God answer prayers favorably? more »
This morning we start our weeks back up, we reengage in the daily grind, and for some that is not a pleasant prospect. It helps me to consider my approach to the day and week when I recall Paul’s instructions to the Ephesians: “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. (Ephesians 5:1-2)1
Our instruction as believers here is to imitate God. As we go through our daily activities we are told that it is our first priority to act in way that rightly reflects the character of God. Now, this might seem daunting to us, after all there are so many things about God that are significantly beyond my human capacity. And, indeed if we spend our time cataloging the different things that God would and would not do and then set that list before ourselves as our aim to live up to, I think we would all grow discouraged quickly.
That is why I find Paul’s primary example of what an imitator of God looks like so helpful. You see, an imitator of God focuses primarily on love. More specifically on love for others. Jesus is our example. He modeled the very life that we are to live in that he gave himself up for us. That giving up of himself is most powerfully demonstrated in his death on the cross and burial in a grave, but it can also be seen in the way he conducted himself here on earth. He invested himself in others. He sought to meet the temporal needs of those around him. He sought to direct others to God. He put the task of being our servant above his rightful due of being recognized and glorified as our God. And, he suffered through it and because of it all. He resisted great and terrible temptations for us. In every aspect of his earthly ministry Jesus considered others as more important than himself.
To walk as children of the light; to be imitators of God is simply and most importantly to love others in the most selfless way possible. When we are loving others in this way we will endure injustice, we will embrace lowliness, we will abstain from and combat sin in our lives simply because these things are loving acts; they are the deeds and the attitudes of those who consider others more important than themselves. So, I encourage you, as you start off on another week of engagement in reality consider how you might put those around you in a place of greater importance than yourself. Consider how you might give yourself up for them thus demonstrating a Christ-like, even a God-like love. I think you will find your week a more restful thing than you anticipate it being.
1. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Eph 5:1–2). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
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