SCRIPTURE: Ephesians 5:1-20
OBSERVATIONS
1. (vv.1-2) Paul offers a perfect summary of what it means to be a Christ-follower, one who responds to the amazing love of God in Christ by imitating His love, offering ourselves up to God for the sake of others.
APPLICATION: Is my religious life a reflection of this wholehearted commitment to serving od by serving (sacrificing for) others? I have developed the skills to be religious, but am I truly a Christ-follower (imitator)?
2. (vv.3-14) Paul continues to list the things that are inappropriate for Christ-followers (sexual immorality, impurity, greed, obscenity, foolish talk, coarse joking) and stresses that these are the things that will one day be exposed and punished. As Christ-followers we ought to distance ourselves from these behaviours.
APPLICATION: Paul seems to have an urgency that I lack, do I hate sin, do I run away from it, does it drive me closer to Jesus for mercy and help? Often I live with an indifference or a casualness to the “beast” that remains within me.
3. (vv.15-20) Paul gives the alternative, showing that the way to “put off” sin is by “putting on” good, healthy, Christ-like attitudesand behaviours. Figure out what God wants, and “get drunk” on doing this (ie filled with the Spirit, and the thingsof the Spirit). Turn my whole life into an act of worship, doing everything out of love and gratitude to the Lord.
APPLICATION: I like this idea, “getting drunk” (or “high”) on loving God, serving people, doing what is right and good. An old hymn puts it this way, “Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God, in every part with praise, that my whole being may proclam Thy being and Thy ways”.
PRAYER:
Lord, help me to surrender myself and my life to loving and serving You, always and everywhere. Help me to starve the “beast” by feeding the “new me” on all that is right and good and wholesome. Fill my life, Lord! Amen.