Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; [v1]
Followers here comes from the Greek work mimeomai meaning "to imitate".
When I was little I remember going into my mother's room and playing around with her makeup and her hair products because I thought my mom was cool and had cool hair - hers was curly while mine, at the time, was straight. I'd sometimes get into her jewelry box and put on her necklaces and walk around the room modeling them. I loved my mom and I wanted to imitate her look.
Children tend to do this, they look up to someone and they try to act like that person - talk like that person, walk like that person. I heard a story once where a father loved to frequent the bar in his neighbourhood. One winter day after the snow covered the ground, he left his home and started walking to the bar. He heard his son calling his name and looked back to see his son jumping from footprint to footprint that he had left in the snow. His son was saying, "Daddy look! I'm following your footsteps!"
The father looked at his son and there made a decision to walk back home.
The boy was imitating the father, I was imitating my mother. God wants us to do that with him, he wants us to follow him, without worrying about the "details", just like a loved child would want to follow their parents.
Paul expounds further on what we should be imitating.
And walk in love, as
Christ also hath loved us, and
hath given himself for us an offering
and a sacrifice
to God for a sweetsmelling savour. [v2]
We should be loving one another as Christ has loved us. We should not be doing the following:
But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness,
let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which
are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. [v3,4]
I looked up some of these in Greek and have found the following:
fornication - porneuo - to act the harlot i.e. indulge in unlawful lust or practise idolatry.
uncleanness - akathartos - physically and morally impure
covetousness - pleonektes - desiring more, eager for gain
filthiness - aischros - shamefulness, obscenity.
foolish talking - moros and legos - buffoonery
jestering - eu and trope - witticism, i.e. in a vulgar sense.
These are the things we should not be, yet in today's society, people (sometimes even Christians) will call you prudish if you stay away from things like these or if you tell them they should stay away also. Personally, if this is the case, I'd rather be prudish than cool.
Lord, I pray that I will learn to be an imitator of you and not walk in the things of the world but walk with you. Amen.
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