Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Ephesians 4 and Psalm 141

On Friday, in reflecting on Ephesians 3, I invited you to … “Imagine when we are empowered to encounter this love not only inwardly and individually by the Spirit, but also as it overflows between us in loving relationship too. Imagine when each member becomes an instrument of the vast love of Christ to every other member. Imagine the outcome on your church. Imagine the impact on your witness to the world.”

In many ways, Ephesians 4 is the practical “How-To” of that love. Paul urges the Christians, in light of the great love of Christ, to live by “the standard God set when he called you”. Of course, that calling to the new life came through Paul’s preaching of the self-sacrificial love of Christ on the Cross. So that’s the standard too – self-sacrificial love. It is definitely not a call to some mushy feeling of love. It’s the call to making “every effort” to live out the hard reality of love-in-action, no matter the cost.

A careful reading of Ephesians 4 shows that this ‘love-in-action’ is a life of humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance, peace-making, using our gifts to serve others and build them up, honesty, conflict-resolution, hard work for the benefit of others, kindness in word and deed, compassion and forgiveness. What a list!

Life application: How about choosing just one of those qualities of love-in-action, and focusing every effort on putting it into practice today? Be blessed as you do so.