Imitators of God

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So what does it mean to be a Christian? Anyone ever make the connection that “Christ” is part of the word?

It was actually a derogatory term at first (Acts 26:28 and 1 Peter 4:16), saying those who followed Jesus were “little Christs”, which is in a sense what we are. We are followers of Christ. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:1 to follow him as he follows Christ. In Ephesians 5:1, he says to be imitators of God.

Jesus says in John 13:35 that people will know we follow Him by our love for one another, just as He loves us. Jesus says to bear fruit all over the New Testament, the Fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22. The first fruit of the Spirit is…. love! We must be driven by godly love if we are to be Christians!

Jesus also says to be “salt and light” to the earth in Matthew 5:13-16. He didn’t call us simply to “not sin”, but to be salt and light, and to affect those around us. “But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.” (Mt 5:13 NLT). If we are salt, but are not acting like it (changing the things around us), then what good are we to God? What makes us any more special to Him if we aren’t living out His purposes? Well, Jesus says we’ll be trampled on as worthless if we are not living to what He has called us to be.

If we are Christian, we are imitating Christ, we are living by love and the Fruit of the Spirit, and we are changing those around us. That’s what it means to be a Christian!

Comments

  1. TabbyFebruary 6, 2011 at 3:10 AM

    1. yay for blogs!
    2. Is this like the Glee "That's the way Sue C's it" thing :P
    3. This post reminds me of a post I did on being an image of Christ, but it took a different twist i guess. Here's a link:http://likeatreeplantedbystreamsofwater.blogspot.com/2009/08/poor-replica.html

    On the post you put up, every time I think about Christians not living our lives as God called us to , I think of two things- CS Lewis' Screwtape Letters and the parable of the farmer sowing his seeds. in SL, Screwtape writes to the other demon that even though the man he's trying to lead astray became God-fearing, he can still work to make sure he keeps his faith his own- make him a ineffective Christian. Even though the enemy cannot harm us, he can still bring about the weeds and thorns that can choke our faith and make it weak. Which leads me to the parable. As followers of God we have two choices, to either land on good soil- nourishing ourselves with God's word and truth- or to allow the enemy to choke us to death with the struggles of life.

    And as you say, what is the use of salt if it's not salty? What is the use of not actively seeking opportunities to pour out God in us if we believe in the name of Jesus?

    4. How matt sees it....(plus rebecca?) :P

    ReplyDelete
  2. Matt JonesFebruary 8, 2011 at 12:31 AM

    Lol Rebecca came up with the name ;-) And I don't think she got it from Glee...maybe she did? Haha.

    Yes I love what you had to say! I think that post was great, and I loved how you said we are God's greatest creation, although at the same time we're still a mess! Wait for my next post (maybe I'll just post it tomorrow), it ties in with the one I just posted slightly. Actually a lot lol.

    ReplyDelete

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