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Copy your Father. “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children” (5:1). To imitate means to copy. Little children copy the people they love: how they talk, how they walk and how they work. Dear children. Paul calls believers “dear children.” They are God’s own children, and He loves them. Because He forgave. Paul has just written that “God in Christ forgave you” (4:32). Because God has forgiven us, we copy Him. Copy what? We cannot copy God’s power or know everything He knows. We copy His love, His kindness and His forgiveness. Walk in love. “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us” (5:2). To walk is to live day by day. Love is the way God’s children walk. A gift to God. Jesus gave Himself as “an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (5:2). His death on the cross for our sins was a perfect gift of love, and God was pleased with it. Love that gives. Love is more than a feeling. Christ’s love gave. When we share, help and forgive, we copy His love. What this means for you. Read how Jesus loved people in the Gospels this week, and copy one thing He did.
Not fitting for saints. Some things should “not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints” (5:3). Saints means God’s holy people, everyone who belongs to Him. Two things that do not fit. Paul names sins against God’s good plan for our bodies, and he names covetousness (5:3). Covetousness means always wanting more, especially what belongs to someone else. Words that do not fit. “Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting” (5:4). That means dirty talk, foolish talk and rude jokes. Thanks in their place. These things “are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks” (5:4). Paul puts a thankful heart in their place. Greed is a false god. A “covetous man” is “an idolater” (5:5). Greed puts a thing in the place that belongs to God. Who belongs to the kingdom? Paul says people who live this way have no “inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (5:5). He means people who keep refusing God and choose these things over Him. God’s kingdom is for everyone who trusts Jesus, and God forgives everyone who turns to Him. Empty words. “Let no one deceive you with empty words” (5:6). Some people say that wrong things are no big deal. God says sin is serious, and “the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (5:6). So Paul says, “Therefore do not be partakers with them” (5:7). What this means for you. When you are tempted to say an unkind word or tell a rude joke, say thank You to God instead, and ask Him to help you.
Once darkness. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (5:8). Without Jesus, sin filled their hearts like darkness fills a room. Now light. Now they are “light in the Lord.” The change came from Jesus, not from trying to be good. He forgives our sins and fills us with His light. Live like it. “Walk as children of light” (5:8). Children of light live in a way that matches who God has made them. The fruit. “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth” (5:9). Goodness is kindness that helps. Righteousness is doing what is right. Truth is being honest. Finding out. Children of light keep “finding out what is acceptable to the Lord” (5:10). No part with darkness. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them” (5:11). No bad secrets. Some people do wrong things “in secret” (5:12). God’s children do not keep bad secrets. If anyone asks you to keep a secret that feels wrong, or does something that makes you feel unsafe, tell a parent or a grown-up you trust. It is never your fault. Light shows the truth. “But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light” (5:13). Light shows what is there. Awake! “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light” (5:14). These words are most likely a line from an early Christian song. Many Christians see in it Isaiah’s call, “Arise, shine; For your light has come!” (Isaiah 60:1). Christ calls people to wake up from sin and come to Him. What this means for you. Ask God each morning to help you walk as a child of light.
Walk carefully. “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise” (5:15). Circumspectly means carefully, looking around before each step, like a hiker on a rocky path. Wise, not foolish. In the Bible a fool lives as if God did not matter. A wise person lives for God. Redeeming the time. “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (5:16). To redeem something is to buy it back. Every day God gives us chances to do good. Wise people grab those chances instead of wasting them. The Lord’s will. “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (5:17). God’s will is what God wants. We learn it from His Word, and we can ask Him in prayer. Not drunk. “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation” (5:18). Dissipation means ruin, a life falling apart. Being drunk makes people lose control. Filled with the Spirit. Instead, “be filled with the Spirit” (5:18). God does not want anything else to control us. He wants His Holy Spirit to fill and lead us. God fills His children with His Spirit again and again. In Acts 4:31, believers who had been filled before were filled again when they prayed. Help from God. Living wisely is not something we do alone. Jesus died for our sins and rose again, and His Spirit helps everyone who trusts Him. What this means for you. Think of one way you waste time. Ask God to help you use that time to help someone.
Darkness inside. Every person has sinned. Sin is like darkness in the heart, and it keeps us far from God, who is perfectly good.
No switch to flip. No one can make their own heart light by trying harder or by being good enough.
God’s love. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
He gave Himself. Christ “has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God” (5:2).
The cross. “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3).
Alive again. “He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:4). Jesus is alive today.
From darkness to light. Everyone who trusts Jesus is forgiven. Once they were darkness; now they are “light in the Lord” (5:8).
God’s own children. God makes them His “dear children” (5:1), loved and welcomed into His family.
Filled. The Holy Spirit lives in every believer and fills them, so they can walk in love and light.
Brought to God. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
A gift, not a prize. No one becomes a child of light by being good. We become God’s children by trusting Jesus, and then He helps us live like it.
Your answer. Turn from your sin and trust Jesus, who died and rose for you. Then ask Him each day to help you walk as a child of light.
Paul wrote these words to believers in Ephesus. “Therefore” means because of what God has done. Paul has just written, “even as God in Christ forgave you” (4:32). Because God has forgiven us, we copy Him. “Be imitators of God” means copy God. We cannot copy His power, but we can copy His love, His kindness and His forgiveness. “As dear children” means as children God loves very much. Little children love to copy a parent they love. They try to walk like them and talk like them. God’s children want to be like their Father. How does someone become one of God’s dear children? Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again. Everyone who trusts Him is forgiven and welcomed into God’s family. Then the Holy Spirit helps us copy our Father. Learn this verse this week. Each time you are kind, share or forgive, remember that you are copying your Father in heaven.
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