Holy Mime

When Ephesians 5 starts out with, “Follow God’s example” Paul uses a word that means to imitate or mimic. In fact, the Greek word is “mimetai” which is exactly where we get our word, ‘mime.’ Paul is saying we should mime God. We should pretend to be Him. Our lives should consist in us doing a God impression.

The weird thing about this idea is that miming God, or doing a God impression sounds a bit fake, right? As Christians, we’re supposed to be all authentic, and yet the Bible is telling us to imitate someone we are not. Is that strange? Does it seem a bit off?

Here’s the deal: Miming God is awesome, because God is love. Paul says, “Imitate God, live a life of love.” Another translation would put it, “Mimic God and walk in love.” Doing your best God impression simply means to love people. It means seeing them with a heart of compassion and tenderness. It means wanting better stuff for them than they even want for themselves. It means sacrificing your own self for them. Love. That’s what it looks like.

Mimic God: Love.