Etch Values: From the Etch Team, Part 3

REFLECT the image of Christ

Christ challenges us to be imitators of Him, so that we might REFLECT the glory of the Lord. Stop and think about that… Seriously, what does that even look like?

REFLECT is a verb meaning to cast back; to give back or show an image of.

So I ask myself, what is necessary for me to REFLECT Christ; to be an imitator of Him?

Knowledge… I can’t REFLECT something if I have no knowledge of that which I strive to REFLECT.

I love to study God’s word, to learn new things about His character and how He works. To see how He is so purposeful in all of scripture and how He actively works in the lives of His people to grow them and to bring about his purposes. God on many occasions has given me specific direction for life challenges through the reading and meditation of His word, but to be an imitator of Christ, meditating on His word is not enough.

I was recently reading a sermon by Charles Spurgeon on being an imitator of God. Spurgeon challenges us by saying, do not only meditate upon God and think that you have done enough, but go on to copy what you study.

Meditation is a happy, holy, profitable engagement, and it will instruct you, strengthen you, comfort you, inspire your heart and make your soul steadfast, but you may not stop at meditation. You must go on to imitation of the character of God.

Let your spiritual life not only bud and blossom in devout thought, but let it bring forth fruit in holy action.

Ephesians 5:1-2 says… watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with Him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us… Love like that. (The Message)

We must be disciplined in our study of scripture and our knowledge of God, but as Spurgeon said, we must not stop there. We must take that knowledge and REFLECT it back to a lost world through our everyday actions as we engage with friends and strangers throughout our days. The world is in desperate need of Christ and we must not be hoarders of our Savior.

It is our desire that ETCH brings you the opportunity to not only be the light to those you engage with as you participate in this new ministry, but that you GO out into your world… the harvest field that God has placed you in and that you REFLECT Him and all His glory and that you love not with caution, but extravagantly, just as Christ loves you.

– Betsy Crumbaker (Etch Ministry Team)