Staff Devotional
Pastor Jake
“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.”
I am an uncle 9 times over at the moment, and I love my nieces and nephews. Once, about 14 years ago, I had a chance to babysit my very first niece, Rylie. She was so adorable and very smart. On this day, we were spending time playing with some toys and I started to just talk to her. I was talking like I would to any other person, using hand gestures, and inflecting my voice. Suddenly, I looked down at her amidst her toys on the floor and she started doing what I was doing. She was gesturing with her arms, speaking in baby gibberish and even inflecting her voice. When I saw her doing this, I was overflowing with joy. She saw what I was doing and wanted to do it herself. She wanted to be more like me.
As I came across Ephesians 5:1-2 a few days ago, this story came to me while reading “Therefore be imitators of God….” I remember feeling joy at my nieces’ attempts to immitate me. Now, take that joy I felt, multiply it infinitely, and you will only come incrementally closer to the joy God feels when he sees you imitating him. Follow God’s example, as dearly loved children. The original language is written as if to say being an imitator and being loved by God are the same thing. Imitate him because you are loved by him, and know you are loved in your imitation.
“But Pastor Jake, I can’t do these things! It is just too much. I don’t want a rule list to follow because I know I will fail and I know God will be disappointed in me!”
Listen… Do you think that when my niece was trying to imitate me that I got upset and started yelling out, “No! Stop! You aren’t imitating me correctly! Go and follow my list of instructions on how to talk, then come back and show me!” Absolutely not. God’s joy is in our imitation. God’s joy is in our effort. With each passing day, God’s love is lavishly upon you before you even wake up, and it remains with you to comfort you to sleep. He simply wants the best for you – therefore, imitate.
This passage ends as all to-do lists should: with Christ
And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. - Ephesians 5:2
This word “fragrance” is interesting. Paul uses it in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 when describing the knowledge of God being like a fragrance. Apparently, Paul was all about appealing to his audience’s sense of smell. The idea that I believe Paul is trying to recall for his audience is the idea of the Old Testament Tabernacle
When God’s people wandered in the wilderness, their one connection with God was through the tabernacle. God would descend and manifest himself above the ark of the covenant so that he could simply be with his people. When the tabernacle was set up, the different tribes of Israel would set up camp around the tabernacle, each able to have the same distance to the wall of the tabernacle. So, when a priest would offer a sacrifice, what do you think would happen? The smell would rise up, a pleasing aroma, and it would spread throughout the whole camp. Once inhaled, the tribes new that sin had been atoned for. Sin had been forgiven.
How do you smell? Does the sacrifice of Christ emanate from you into the lives of those around you? Ask yourself, “What are ways you can make the smell of hope in my life more potent?” If the answer isn’t evident, simply look at verse 1 - “Therefore, be imitators of God.” A fragrant life is a Christlike life.