Followers Of God

"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children" (Ephesians 5:1)

The word "followers" means "imitator". But both the transliteration and the definition apply. We are to follow Christ, and we are to be imitators of Christ, or be Christ like. Once we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior and Christ is in us and we in Him, our ways will naturally start to transition into that of Christ. As James taught, "let him shew out of a good conversation (way of life) his works with meekness of wisdom" (James 3:13b)

Christ will be made manifest in our everyday life. But notice that Paul adds that not only are we to follow Jesus, but we are to follow Jesus, “as dear children”. What does that mean?

When the disciples asked Jesus, who was the greatest in heaven, Jesus called a little child over and said, “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3-4)

Once again, we see that we are to be like little children. Except this time, it is Jesus Christ himself that is saying it. The one attribute that Jesus does mention is that we are to be humble as a little child. So, what is the humility of a small adolescent?

Humility is a reduction. Pride and ego will puff us up beyond who we really are and past what we are capable of. True humility isn’t humiliation. It is not degrading or condescension of self. Thinking of yourself as a lowlife, worthless, scum of the earth is not what humility is all about. Each of us are an individual miracle of God. God called us gods!

“I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” (Psalm 82:6)

Jesus Christ repeated the statement.

“Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” (John 10:34)

Sidebar: It’s interesting to note that Jesus states, “I said” when referring to what God said in the Old Testament, just one of many “proofs” that God and Christ are one. (Read John 17).

Humility is not self-degradation. It is not to dishonor or disrespect self. Unfortunately, some religions have carried this idea of humility to the ridiculous extend of self-flagellation. This scourging of self can be very bloody and has nothing to do with humility or Christianity.

To humble our self, we are to remove any and all inflated idea of self. We are to properly estimate the gifts that God has given us. We must also understand that we cannot marvel at self when everything we have is of God. So how could we possibly overestimate our virtues?

“For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7)

Sometimes a prideful person will put on a show of humility. False humility can even be a competition amongst the so called reformed as to who was worse in their pre-Christian life. Have you ever seen Christians gathered together trying to out do each other’s sins of their former life?

To truly humble our self we must rid our self of false pretense. A humble person does not compare talents, abilities, or virtues with anyone else.

Humility requires objectivity. It is a proper estimation of self. There is nothing added or subtracted from the essence, nature or being. It’s an ongoing process, one that we will spend the rest of our lives working on with God as our guide. Sin loves pride and ego. Sin loves for us to overestimate or underestimate our self. It doesn’t take much. As Paul warned, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” (Galatians 5:9).

But what is the humility of a little child? The very start of Matthew Chapter 18 gives us a clue as to what it is. The disciples ask Jesus, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” This type of ambition, being concerned about who is better than whom, is fertile ground for pride, haughtiness, deception, scheming, backbiting, etc. to grow. The lust and desire for a righteous and noble thing is never good.

Small children generally just want to get a long with each other and play. Sins such as racism (the belief that one's own race is superior), misogyny/ patriarchy (belittlement of women), greed, privilege, superiority and in general anything that causes harm or places one above another is just not within a child’s mindset. They are teachable, not easily offended, don’t put on airs, they don’t think they are better than anyone, and are dependent upon the parents.

“By requiring his disciples to be like them, he did not intend to express any opinion about the native moral character of children, but simply that in these respects they must become like them. They must lay aside their ambitious views and their pride, and be willing to occupy their proper station - a very lowly one.” (Adam Clarke).

Augustine said, “It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” With that said, it is obvious that humility is tantamount to righteousness and the Christian religion.

President Reagan said, “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit.” This hits the humility nail square on the head. The good we do is in relation to other people and is born of the basic principle of loving our neighbor.

Love is the ultimate command and wish of God. We must humble our self before we can put the interests of others first, even above our own.

Bill Hitchcock