-Imitate. Copy. Impersonate. Yes, we are called literally to impersonate God, to bear His image and port His persona to those in our assembly as well as to our neighbors and to every nation, throughout His creation. The quintessential, holy mother of all monkey-see-monkey-do's, this. He is our Father and we are His children - His beloved children, no less. Children always parrot their parents, do they not? They naturally begin to do the things they see their mom and dad do (all the moreso if their parents actually set a loving example). Kids pick up traits exhibited by their parents without even trying. And what son doesn’t want to grow up to be like his dad who he knows loves him? No doubt the same is true for us as children of our Heavenly Father. The more we spend time with Him, glimpse Him in action, the better we get to know Him, the more we will pick up on what He is like, His attributes, His likes and dislikes, what He likes to do, and we will naturally want to be just. Like. Him.
-And what our Father in heaven does is forgive. He is kind and tender-hearted, and has indeed forgiven us an unforgiveable debt. We experience this forgiveness in new and fresh ways each and every day as we follow Him. Because of this, in light of this fact, and in light of the overarching mandate to guard the oneness of the Body, Paul says, we must therefore follow this divine example, this wondrous precedent our heavenly Father has set for us. It is incumbent upon us to do just what God did in Christ - we must forgive, and we must get really good at it, just like our Daddy.
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