Trusting God

Ephesians 5

Good morning!

I pray that you have been digging deeper into God’s Word this week and I pray that you have spent some quality time with Him, seeking His will for you, searching out the gifts He’s given you, and finding the calling that He has on your life and how you can put those to work in the Body of Christ. I believe that the Word and prayer are the most powerful things we have and as times continue to get worse, we need to utilize these tools more and more. 

Today we are talking about our spiritual walk. 

Read Ephesians 4:17-5:21

Quotes are from the NKJV.

There is so much in these verses. You could spend weeks on them and still need more time to discuss the depths of truth and wisdom that is here. Basically, Paul is saying that we (Gentiles) who belong to Christ are different now and our walk and our lives should reflect that difference. Chapter 4:17-24 reads, 

“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. 

Those who don’t have the Spirit of God living in them walk “in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened” They are “alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” 

However, we have been taught by Christ and through that teaching, (reading and studying of His Word) to put off the old corrupt man and to be renewed in the spirit of our mind and we should “put on a new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

Chapter 4:25-32 goes on to tell us to speak truth even if we were a liar before, to not sin in our anger, to not steal but work for our living and to provide for those in need, to not let anything come out of our mouth unless it edifies those who hear it, and to be tenderhearted and forgiving even as God in Christ forgave us. 

Chapter 5:1-21 teaches us to walk in Love, to walk in Light, and to walk in Wisdom. He breaks each of these down for us. “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” (v. 5:1-2) This tells us we should love others the way Jesus loved us, sacrificially. Let that sink in a moment. Do we love others sacrificially? I mean it’s easier to sacrifice for a spouse or our children, even parents or siblings but these verses say to imitate God the way our children imitate us and to love as Christ loved. He doesn’t specify who we are to love and we know that Jesus loves ALL and gave Himself for ALL. So I take that to mean we are to love ALL people this way. 

Wow, that’s hard. 

He goes on to tell us to walk in Light. 

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” (v. 5:8-11)

We are to be the light of Jesus in this very dark world. 

Finally, he tells us to walk in Wisdom. 

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (v. 5:15-17) 

Obviously, it is impossible to walk/ live this way on our own strength and will. All of these things come through the teaching and training of the Holy Spirit and that comes through His Word. We know that our salvation is immediate and permanent, however, our spiritual growth and maturity come over time. It comes through discipleship, time in prayer, time in His Word, and trusting Him through difficult circumstances, among other things. Make no mistake, the days we are in are definitely evil and it’s up to the body of Christ to walk in a way that the world sees something different in us. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) 

So often we look no different from the world around us. We’ve gotten to a point where we want Jesus and His promises of eternal life but we don’t want to stand out or be different. We want to fit in and be accepted. We forget that God has called us to be a “peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9 KJV) 

My challenge for us today:  Spend some time asking God to examine your heart and reveal any area of your spiritual life that needs attention. What do you need to surrender to God and allow Him to transform into the “new peculiar” version of you?

If you have time and want to dig deeper here are a few more verses to meditate on. 

1 Peter 2:9, 4:1-6, Colossians 4:5-6, Romans 12:2.

I pray that each of you have a blessed day!

Here are links to read other posts in this series. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 6, Part 7.