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“Follow God’s example” is not a suggestion. It is a command. It is one of the most daring statements in the New Testament, and yet it is given to ordinary believers.
Let us look at what the Word of God says:
> “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
> — Ephesians 5:1–2 (NIV)
The song builds entirely around this command:
At the heart of this passage is a divine pattern:
1. Our identity – “dearly loved children.”
2. Our calling – “be imitators of God.”
3. Our lifestyle – “walk in the way of love.”
4. Our model – “just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us.”
5. Our orientation – “a sacrifice to God—a pleasing aroma.”
This is not vague sentiment. It is a specific way of living: a cross-shaped life of love, self-giving, and Godward devotion.
To understand it, we must first see the context.
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The letter to the Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul, probably from prison (Eph. 3:1; 4:1), to believers in and around Ephesus—a major city in Asia Minor, steeped in idolatry, immorality, and the occult (see Acts 19).
Ephesians can be divided, broadly, into two parts:
1. Chapters 1–3: Doctrine – What God has done for us in Christ.
2. Chapters 4–6: Practice – How we must live in response.
Ephesians 5:1–2 sits in the second part. Paul has already laid a strong foundation:
On this basis, Paul begins chapter 4:
> “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”
> — Ephesians 4:1
He then describes the “old self” and the “new self”:
> “You were taught…to put off your old self…to be made new…and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
> — Ephesians 4:22–24
So the logic is:
Ephesians 5:1–2 is the natural conclusion of what Paul has been saying. He is not addressing spiritual elites, but normal believers—former pagans, many of them delivered from idolatry and immorality. To such people, God says: “Be imitators of God… walk in love… just as Christ loved us.”
To “be imitators of God” in Ephesus meant to live totally different from the surrounding culture: no longer ruled by lust, greed, anger, bitterness, but by the love that is revealed in the cross of Jesus Christ.
We are today in a very similar setting—surrounded by immorality, idolatry of money, self, pleasure. The same command still stands: Be imitators of God… walk in love.
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Two key words in Ephesians 5:1–2 are crucial: “imitators” and “love.”
### 3.1 “Imitators” – *mimētai*
The phrase “Be imitators of God” uses the Greek word μιμηταί (mimētai), from which we get the English word *mimic*.
It is used elsewhere:
So when Scripture says, “Be imitators of God,” it means:
This is not passive. It is deliberate. You decide: I will relate to people the way God relates to me. I will forgive as He forgives. I will give as He gives. I will love as He loves.
The song captures this in the repeated phrase:
> “Be imitators of God—live like His loved child.”
Imitation is not mechanical. It grows out of a relationship—“as dearly loved children.”
### 3.2 “Love” – *agapē*
The word “love” in “walk in the way of love” is the well-known Greek word ἀγάπη (*agapē*).
*Agapē* is:
In Ephesians 5:2 we are told what *agapē* looks like:
> “Walk in the way of love (*agapē*), just as Christ loved (*ēgapēsen*) us and gave Himself up for us…”
So *agapē* is defined by the cross:
This changes how we understand the lyrics:
> “Walk in the way of love,
> just as Christ loved us
> and gave Himself for us.”
To “walk in the way of *agapē*” is to live every day as a conscious offering of yourself to God, for the good of others, just as Jesus did.
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We will now move through the themes of the song, connecting them to Scripture.
### 4.1 “Follow God’s example… as dearly loved children”
> [Verse 1]
> Follow God’s example,
> therefore, as dearly loved children.
This is taken directly from Ephesians 5:1:
> “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children.”
Everything depends on those words: “dearly loved children.”
In Greek, “dearly loved” is ἀγαπητοί (*agapētoi*) – “beloved, deeply loved, cherished ones.” The same word is used of Jesus:
> “This is My beloved (*agapētos*) Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
> — Matthew 3:17 (ESV)
So, in Christ, God addresses you with the same word He used for Jesus: “beloved child.”
This is crucial for spiritual warfare and holiness. Many believers try to imitate God out of fear, duty, or legalism. That produces frustration and bondage. But Scripture says: You imitate God as one who is already dearly loved.
The enemy will constantly challenge this. He will say, “You are not really loved of God. Look at your failures.” But the Word declares:
> “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
> — 1 John 3:1
The first battlefield is in your mind: Will you believe that you are, in Christ, a dearly loved child of God? Your ability to imitate God depends on accepting this identity.
### 4.2 “Be imitators of God—live like His loved child”
> [Chorus]
> Be imitators of God—
> live like His loved child.
Notice the logic:
In other words: Live in line with who you already are.
This is consistent with Paul’s whole pattern:
> “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.”
> — Ephesians 5:8
You are light—so live like it.
You are a loved child—so live like it.
This deals with a lie common among believers: “If I could live better, God would love me more.” The New Testament says the opposite: Because you are loved in Christ, you are now empowered to live differently.
The root of much sin is an orphan spirit—living as if we are not truly loved, not truly accepted. Scripture says:
> “You received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
> — Romans 8:15–16 (ESV)
To “live like His loved child” is to:
Spiritual maturity does not start with effort. It starts with identity.
### 4.3 “Walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us”
> [Chorus]
> Walk in the way of love,
> just as Christ loved us
> and gave Himself for us.
Paul gives us a command and then a standard:
“Walk” in Scripture means consistent daily conduct. Not an occasional experience, but a habitual pattern:
So “walk in love” means:
And the measure is not: “Do I feel loving?” but: “Is my life patterned after Christ’s self-giving love?”
Philippians 2 describes this love:
> “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus… He emptied Himself… He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
> — Philippians 2:5–8 (ESV)
This exposes the counterfeit of sentimental “love” that refuses cost, sacrifice, or obedience. True *agapē*:
We see in John 13:1:
> “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”
He washed their feet. He went to the cross. That is the pattern.
So when the song repeats:
> “Walk in the way of love,
> just as Christ loved us
> and gave Himself for us.”
it is calling you to a cruciform lifestyle—shaped by the cross in your attitudes, your marriage, your responses to offense, your use of time, money, and words.
### 4.4 “He loved us and offered Himself as a sacrifice to God—a pleasing aroma”
> [Verse 2]
> Live a life filled with love,
> following the example of Christ.
> He loved us and offered Himself
> as a sacrifice to God—
> a pleasing aroma.
This echoes Ephesians 5:2:
> “Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Notice to whom the sacrifice is directed: “to God.”
We often focus on the fact that Jesus died *for us*. That is true. But Paul emphasizes: Jesus offered Himself *to God*.
This language—“fragrant offering,” “pleasing aroma”—comes from the Old Testament sacrifices:
> “You are to burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the LORD.”
> — Exodus 29:18
When Jesus surrendered Himself completely to the Father’s will, it rose before God as the perfect fulfillment of all these sacrifices. His obedience was “a pleasing aroma.”
Now, what does that mean for us?
Romans 12:1 applies this sacrificial principle to every believer:
> “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
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