What would just one day of your life be like if you committed yourself to think, speak, and act just like Jesus? Paul exhorted us in Ephesians 5:1 to “Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children.”
A paraphrase would be, “Act like God. Imitate God like a little child imitates his or her father.”
What is God like? His power, gifts, and abilities are limitless. He knows exactly who He is and what His plans and purposes are. His knowledge and wisdom are at the heart of every decision He makes, and His Word is His absolute bond.
When He makes a promise, He will stand by it one hundred percent; and if the promise is conditional, He will make it perfectly and abundantly clear what needs to be done in order for the promise to be met.
His prized possession and the apple of His eye are the believers who give their lives into His care, yet He will do everything within His power to save, heal, and deliver those who rebel against Him.
He loves unconditionally because He chooses to love unconditionally. He is the greatest, because He puts Himself on the level of the lowest. He is bold and flamboyant, yet kind and selfless.
This brief description of God only begins to scratch the surface of who and what He is, but what would happen to your life, to your family, to your church, to your community, to your nation, and to the world, if you would get a revelation of “Act like God”?
Would your fire and your zeal for the things of God be restored, or never lost in the first place?
Again, everyone has the capacity to act, no matter what their circumstances or their situation. We can see here that God meets us on a level we can understand and gives us a strategy that is easily put into practice.
Not everyone can walk the streets and feed and clothe the needy, but anyone can act!
Several years ago, I was driving down the road with one of my sons, who was four years old at the time. He began to wistfully say, “Oh, Daddy, I want to preach like you preach. I want to travel with you. I want to lead people to Jesus.”
Little by little, I felt my heartstrings being plucked and pulled, and my heart and soul began to melt inside me, until finally I was overcome with emotion as my son told me everything I had always wanted to hear from him. He was expressing my greatest desire and dream for his life!
Then, before I could formulate and utter a reply, my dear, beloved son chimed in, “Daddy, can I have a new toy today?” My four-year-old son definitely knew how to act!
If you would just decide to smile all day, and act as though you were totally fulfilled and content with life, you would be amazed at how it would affect your attitude and your life.
In fact, scientists have proven that the configuration of your mouth can affect the attitude of your mind. Tests have shown that people who frown are always sad and those who smile have a more positive outlook on life.
If you are neutral—take up acting! If you even suspect you are becoming neutral—take up acting!
And, as Paul exhorted the Philippians:
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are hones, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
(Phil. 4:8-9)
Excerpt permission granted by Albury Publishing
Rick and Denise met while they were each on an individual quest to wholeheartedly follow God's plan for their lives. Rick was a college student, growing in his teaching ministry. Denise was a talented vocalist. She chose not to pursue a course that held the prospect of performing with the Metropolitan Opera so that she could instead pursue a relationship with Rick and fulfill her heart's desire to enter full-time ministry.
Rick and Denise's friendship has led to lifelong love and a powerful partnership in building the Kingdom of God. After a decade of ministry, first as pastor and then as itinerant ministers, Rick and Denise Renner embarked on an adventure of a lifetime. In January 1991, the Renners and their sons Paul, Philip, and Joel left behind all they knew to relocate their family to serve the region that only weeks earlier had become the former Soviet Union.
Rick and Denise remember kneeling together as a family and kissing the ground when they arrived at the airport in Latvia on that cold January day. At that moment, they all committed their lives to the will of God and to the people of their new homeland. The following year, Rick moved forward to launch and establish the first of its kind, and eventually the largest, a Christian television network in that region of the world.
Over the years, Rick and Denise pioneered three churches, a Bible school, and a ministerial association that serves thousands of Russian-speaking pastors throughout the former USSR as well as parts of the Middle East. As Rick began training and mentoring leaders in the early days, Denise also developed a women's ministry that is actively involved in changing the lives of women and their families today. Specifically, they minister to the needs of orphans, women prisoners, the homeless, and drug-and-alcohol addicts.
Rick, Denise, and their children began as a small circle of five, willing to go beyond their comfort zone to reach the uttermost parts of the world. Today that circle includes their sons' wives, six grandchildren, and a large ministry staff that helps the Renners extend their reach as they exalt Jesus Christ as the Hope of all nations.
