Imitators

In church this morning I heard a message from Ephesians 5:21 "submit to one another  out of reverence for Christ." I mulled over this the whole day. Submission is hard. As I listened to the sermon, I thought of ways, particularly at work, where I have not been submissive. Conviction is painful. I love how God points things out to me though as I read his word. See this verse is in a greater context. Ephesians 5 begins with the challenge to be imitators of God, and to love sacrificially like Christ loved us. The passage gives things that this doesn't look like: sexual immorality, impurity, drunkenness. But I love how God in his word makes things really practical. I can look at a list of don'ts and easily feel good about myself for I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't... and you could name a lot of things in there. But not doing something is not imitation. Doing something is imitation. So what is it that God does that we are to imitate. So he boils it down to three primary relationships all summarized in the short verse " submit to one another." See God respects people like wives should respect their husbands. God loves people like husbands should love their wives. God does not exasperate, but makes obedience possible. God obeys authority (even his own). God behaves in such a way that he cannot be spoken against by his boss. God treats people fairly. How do we imitate God? We submit to each other. We love each other. This is a hard teaching. But it is possible or he would not have commanded it.