I have been struggling with an issue in God’s Word for a year or more. I have prayed about it and studied passages concerning it and I thought yesterday I had finally come to an understanding of the issue and had a blog post written to share this journey. But that all changed today.
The subject is not really that important. The Lord helped me with it and maybe I will publish it one day. But today I am filled with a joy that comes only from the love of God. The subject came as I was searching for one last scripture for the other topic yesterday. It was in Ephesians 4.
Ephesians 4:17-32
Ephesians 4 begins speaking of the unity of the church and the importance of being together. Verses 1-3 are powerful. Paul is setting some extremely specific direction.
Ephesians 4:1-3 (ESV)
1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Just think about that for a minute. How many of us could do that without Christ Jesus?
Paul goes on to remind us in verses 4-16 of chapter 4 to define the call and the tools we have been given, but what got me the most began in verse 17 of chapter 4.
Ephesians 4:17-24 (ESV)
17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Paul reminds the Ephesians of their calling. He reminds them of their origin. From there he continues with the results of the calling and the kind of life they should be living… and we should also be living.
Ephesians 4:25-32 (ESV)
25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
This is the new life this is what God called us to and what we chose when we accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ as our savior and redeemer. We put off our old self and put on our New Self born again in Jesus Christ by grace through faith “forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.” This leaves us only with love.
Walk in Love, Ephesians 5
Those verses at the end of chapter 4 just wash over me like a soft summer rain.
Ephesians 4:31-32 (ESV)
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Those verses fill me with such joy and hope. They are a constant reminder of where I stand with God and how I should be living. But Paul does not leave me there with no “How”. He begins chapter five with the “How” in one of those “therefore” passages.
Ephesians 5:1-2 (ESV)
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Paul is so clear in this message: “Be imitators of God.” If we can focus on that our lives may not be easy, but we will not be alone. God will be with us in all circumstances. Without the Holy Spirit we would not make it.
Walk in the Light
The other point that I took from chapter five in Ephesians was walking I the light. It began in the eighth verse
Ephesians 5:8-14 (ESV)
Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
The truth is in the light. There is nothing of value in the darkness. Our walk should always be in the light so that nothing is hidden. We should have nothing to hide if we are “imitators of God.”
Reflections
As I pondered these passages and prayerfully considered what Paul had left me in Ephesians, I was a bit overwhelmed. I look at these two chapters and saw all the references to love and to light and the new self, versus the old self and I ended up in Colossians first and then 1Corinthians.
Colossians 3:12-17 (ESV)
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
The guidance in these six verses is wonderful. There is this one verse that pierces my heart. It is verse sixteen, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ” What power there is in these words, and they reminded me of 1Corinthians.
The Love Chapter
1Corinthians 13 had to be in this post. It is the love chapter.
1 Corinthians 13 (ESV)
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
There is none greater than love. It is a foundation that guides our actions from the most joyful task to the most difficult; all must be done in love.
Closing Thoughts
Like I said this morning I had a path planned for today. But God had a different one planned for me. Ultimately the issue I have been struggling with has been addressed this morning with different words.
I think I addressed the mechanics of my problem yesterday. I did not realize it until just now, but if I were going to describe it, I would say I did as Martha did in Luke 10:38-42 yesterday, and today I followed Mary’s path.
Luke 10:41-42 (ESV)
41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
I just got this chill as I consider it. I was so caught up in the mechanics of an issue I had forgotten the spiritual need of any action.
John 4:23-24 (ESV)
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
I had lost sight of the love and guidance of the Holy Spirit. But He did not give up on me and I am thankful. It is almost overwhelming when things fall in place. I cannot contain it.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ must be shared. I have one last passage I must share.
Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV)
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
This last passage out of Ephesians 2 is all of us that are saved, and it IS for all that have not yet been saved if they will believe. What an amazing gift we have been given to love and to share.
Prayer
Father, I thank you for your patience with me. Lord I can get so wrapped up in the weeds that I can lose focus of what is important, but you can always get me back on track when I listen. Lord God, thank you and today I pray you might help me stay focused on the things above rather than the things here below. In Jesus name I pray, Amen!
This morning in my time with the Lord, I read two devotionals. The first one Pat and I did together before she left for work. It was by Charles Stanley, and the focus was to rely on God, the Holy Spirit. The second was Oswald Chambers, and his devotional subject was to focus first on the Kingdom of God, and all other things would take care of themselves.