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But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.” – Matthew 22:29
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” – Ephesians 5:1
As a high school football coach, I have seen my share of broken families where the father has either abandoned the mother or has been incarcerated. The impact this has on children, especially young boys, is devastating. I have witnessed boys trying to become men the only way they know how – that is, by what they witness in the media and social circles. They simply don’t know what a real man is or how one should behave because their proper role models are absent. As a result, they usually grow up not knowing the appropriate role of a father or husband which perpetuates the cycle, negatively impacting our society.
How can these children know what a man is if their fathers are absent in their lives? The same question can be asked in a Biblical paradigm; how can someone imitate God if they don’t have a proper perspective of who God is? The answer is simple, they can’t! Yet, when they try, without knowing who God is, disturbing and damaging results occur.
This is the very thing that happened to the early church. Copies of Scripture were scarce and therefore new converts were not properly taught who Jesus was. They, therefore, conjured up ideas of who He was that fit their individual needs. These faulty, humanistic concepts of Jesus slowly penetrated the confines of the church body to where they almost became part of the theology of the church.
There are numerous examples of documented heresies that crept into the early church. One was that Jesus didn’t have a real physical body but only existed corporeally (Docetism). Another was the belief that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were three distinct, separate and unique beings, exhibiting no unification at all (Tritheism). One of the most prevalent heresies the early church struggled with was the belief that the God of the Old Testament was not the same God witnessed in Jesus, thus nullifying the Old Testament (Marcionism). These, and many more heresies, were eventually rejected by the early church fathers who immersed themselves in the accuracy of Scripture, knowing the truth about God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son.
Jesus addressed the Sadducees in Matthew 22:29 when they tried to trip Him up with a resurrection question. He proclaimed to them what their problem was; they did not know the Scriptures and therefore, because they did not know the Scriptures, they had no idea of the power of God!
The same thing can be said of us today. If we want to know the power, sovereignty and grace of God, we need to immerse ourselves in the truth found only in the Bible, the inerrant and infallible Word of the living God. That, combined with the help of interpretation by the Holy Spirit, will reveal to us the true God of Creation. How else are we able to imitate God? How can we imitate someone for whom we do not know accurately? We can’t!
Brothers and sisters, I implore you to engross yourselves every day in the perfect Word of the living God and experience the grace, peace and power of who God is. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your heart and your thinking to keep your eyes on Christ. Only then would you be capable of carrying out the words of the Apostle Paul, “Be imitators of God.” Remember, God is not who you think He is, He is who He says He is!
Stay faithful brethren!
In Christ’s Love,
Dave
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God is Not Who You Think He is!
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