Frank Caliendo & God

Ephesians 5:1 calls all believers to follow or imitate God.  The Greek word behind follow or imitate is mimetes.  It is the word from which our English word mimic is derived.  To me a mimic is someone like Frank Caliendo, or for us older folks, Rich Little.  These men mimic the voices and mannerisms of famous people.  However, their mimicry is in part, for they only mimic the outward acts - the voice and recognized movements of the person.  God calls us to mimic Him both in action and in attitude. Here are two examples from the passage.

In Ephesians 4:32 we are told to mimic God in the action and attitude of forgiveness.  Like God, we are to forgive those who sin against us, and we are to forgive them fully and completely as He forgave us.  A great passage, a parable of Christ that teaches this is found in Matthew 18:23-35.  Read this passage and think of those who have wronged you.  Have you fully forgiven them or are you like the wicked servant?

The second example of how we are to mimic God is found in Ephesians 5:2.  We are told to walk in love, to live our lives out in love.  And of course the example given is that of Jesus, who walked in love all the way to the cross.  Other verses that speak to this are Romans 5:8 and Hebrews 12:2.  Jesus loved us and loves us even when we are unlovable.  We then are to mimic God in this way.  We are to fully live our self-sacrificial love to all others, even when they are unlovable.

So where do we begin?  A day does not go by when we are not in the presence of people, people that we must love sacrificially, people that often are unlovable.  They might be your spouse, your boss, your neighbor, your child.  Along with this love, forgiveness must be granted.  Why should we love and forgive? Because God did so for us and because He has told us to mimic Him in this way.

-Mark