I Would Never Do That

There is one thing for sure that God tells us to do that He would never do Himself.

That just sounds wrong, but it's true. We criticize parents, for example, who do the very things they tell their kids not to do, like swear or lose one's temper. "Do as I say, not as I do" is widely criticized as a terrible way to lead. Instead, many leadership books today remind leaders that they must lead by example or they won't lead effectively. And yet, there's at least one thing God tell us to do that He absolutely will never do.

Any guesses? Maybe it's something like, "worship God." However, Jesus demonstrated worshipfulness by example many times while on earth. Related things like "glorify God" are certainly things the incarnate Jesus did. Maybe it's something that God would never, ever do, like "sin." But God would never command us to do that. How about something very human, like "get married"? That's a possible answer, but I'm not sure that's something the incarnate Jesus could not have done. Contrary to all these, the whole idea of following Jesus means to do what He did and be as He is. That's generally how discipleship works. How can He tell us to do something He'd never do?

God has two kinds of attributes. The first kind is called His communicable attributes, which are those attributes that we can and should have, such as mercy, compassion, love, boldness, truthtelling, generosity, etc. The second kind is called His incommunicable attributes - those attributes that we cannot have and should not strive for, such as sovereignty, autonomous glory, eternality, and so on. It was precisely the sin of Adam and Eve to seek the attributes of God that they were not supposed to have.

One thing for certain that God commands us to do, but He Himself will never do (indeed cannot ever do) is to change. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He will not change. He cannot change. He is perfectly perfect, so He cannot become smarter, faster, stronger, more merciful, or more experienced. He cannot become less in any way, either. He is outside of time, and therefore cannot change (since change requires time). Changelessness is one of his incommunicable attributes - He is as much God as God will ever be.

Change. He can't; we must. We are less than, we are imperfect, we are unlike Christ in many ways. But our destiny in Christ is to become like Him. We are commanded to change, and in fact, the whole idea of discipleship is change - changes in our beliefs, actions, attitudes, hopes, and worldview - all toward more and more Christlikeness.

Therefore, we should never settle for where we are in our faith, our habits, our relationships, our knowledge, or our character. We should persistently pursue change, rather than rest on "good enough, better than most." Change stands out as one thing we're absolutely commanded and expected to do, but something that our God will never do.

In this one way, technically speaking, we can't follow Jesus' example - but it's what we must do in order to follow Him more.