{"id":6592,"date":"2022-09-27T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=6592"},"modified":"2022-08-03T14:39:31","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T19:39:31","slug":"imitators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2022\/09\/27\/imitators\/","title":{"rendered":"IMITATORS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2 minute read.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Daily Reading:<\/strong> Isaiah 51:1-53:12 ESV<\/a>, Ephesians 5:1-33 ESV<\/a>, Psalm 69:19-36 ESV<\/a>, Proverbs 24:7 ESV<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daily Verse: <\/strong>\u201cTherefore be imitators<\/em> of God, as beloved children.\u201d (Ephesians 5:1 ESV<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MIMETES (3402): <\/strong>\u201cA follower,\u201d is always used in a good sense in the NT.\u00a0 In Eph 5:1 it is used in exhortations, accompanied by the verb ginoamai<\/em>, \u201cto be, become,\u201d and in the continuous tense.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To become.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul wants the Ephesians to become more like Jesus.  Becoming a disciple of Christ means learning how Jesus handled life, then doing the same thing in our own life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As followers of Christ, becoming more like Jesus takes work.  My human nature doesn\u2019t want to do what Jesus did.  Loving people who intentionally OR unintentionally hurt me challenge the best of us.  Yet Jesus loved those who persecuted Him and killed Him, then rose again so they could have eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of us can imitate Christ without His Spirit.  Accessing Jesus\u2019s divine power makes the impossible possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                   Faith steps.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Becoming more like Jesus and imitating His life requires steps of faith.  Imitators act.  Many people talk about Jesus but don\u2019t do a lot of acting like Jesus.  Probably one of the reasons people have the wrong opinion about our Savior.  Christ proved His love for us by what He did.  We can prove ours for Him the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can\u2019t imitate what we don\u2019t know.  We can’t imitate Jesus’ actions if we don\u2019t know how He responded to the rich young ruler.  Learning how Jesus forgave the adulterous woman helps us do the same in our lives. Meeting Jesus in the pages of scripture will change your life in ways you can\u2019t imagine, but if you don\u2019t do it, you won\u2019t know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the Bible for yourself.  Make your determinations about Jesus based on the stories of people who knew Him best.  Imitate God\u2019s Son, and experience life to the fullest as you follow the one who gave it to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> Strong, J., & Strong, J. (2010). The New Strong’s expanded exhaustive concordance of the Bible<\/em>. Greek Dictionary of the New Testament<\/em> (p. 165) Thomas Nelson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Check out my new release on Amazon<\/a>. Learn how I used prayer to control my emotions and develop healthier relationships in my life. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2 minute read. Daily Reading: Isaiah 51:1-53:12 ESV, Ephesians 5:1-33 ESV, Psalm 69:19-36 ESV, Proverbs 24:7 ESV Daily Verse: \u201cTherefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.\u201d (Ephesians 5:1 ESV) MIMETES (3402): \u201cA follower,\u201d is always used in a good sense in the NT.\u00a0 In Eph 5:1 it is used in exhortations, accompanied by the… Continue reading IMITATORS<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6592"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6601,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6592\/revisions\/6601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}