God’s Beloved Children

God’s Beloved Children                                                                    June 26, 2022

“Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)

I’m sure we’ve all heard the phrase, “like father, like son” sometime in our life.  It speaks volumes of a relationship that exists between  the two.  In a good relationship, the son will be just like his dad.  They often look alike and often share the same attitude and humour and others recognize that.  The same may be true in a bad relationship between father and son but quite often is such a relationship the son wants absolutely nothing to do with his father.  He doesn’t like the example of his dad and the way he treated him while growing up.  Therefore, he wants to be different from his father.

In the text above the apostle Paul reminds Christians that they are not only children of God but beloved children.  Our heavenly Father has loved us more than any earthly father could even come close to loving us.  Throughout the Scriptures His love for us is indicated in numerous ways but none greater than in His providing  us with the promise of an eternal home with Him in heaven.  Every action of His towards us in our lifetime has  been motivated by His sincere love for us.  The apostle John puts it this way, “We love because He first loved us” (I John 4:19).  It’s the kind of love that touches us so much that we want to share it with others so that it can have the same impact on their heart as it has on our own.  Thus the desire to imitate God and to be “like Father, like son.”

Our Christian walk is a response to the love our heavenly Father has for us.  It is a walk that is patterned after the love of His Son, Jesus Christ.  It is a walk in which His love continues to be seen by others through us.  Whenever we share Christ’s love in our walk it is regarded by God as a fragrant aroma, a pleasing and acceptable sacrifice.  As Christ gave Himself up so that the world could know the love God has for them (John 3:16) even so must we give up ourselves so that the world can continue to witness the love God has for them.

We would be wise to heed the words of Paul concerning how we should walk.  He states, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16)

Beloved children, may our Christian walk always be pleasing to God as was the walk of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Brian Thompson