Living in Love

-


Scripture:

Eph. 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,
Eph. 5:2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Observation:

One sentence — packed full of the holiness message. 

It all begins with Christ and his very nature which is holy love.  His holy love drove him to give himself up for all of us.  He wanted us to become brothers and sisters and this would only be possible by sacrificing his life for all of us.  By giving up his life, he made it possible for us to live a new life, born again into his family.  Living in his family we take on the very nature of Christ — holy love.  Therefore we live in love — in Jesus’ holy love and we desire to be just like him.  That’s why we imitate him, because we are in him and want to be like him. 

Christ’s holiness drove him to die on the cross for us.  We are invited to become partakers of the divine nature, to live in his holiness and this is living in love.

Application:
Holiness must always be defined by our relationship to Christ.  The temptation is to define holiness by behaviors and this becomes easy if we only look at the beginning of this verse.  We are encouraged to be imitators of God and this is a good thing, but it only happens when we are living in God’s love.  When we are living in his love, then we will feel compelled to become more and more like him. 

We have become beloved children of God, and this means we are Jesus’ brothers and sisters.  Siblings tend to look and act alike! 

There should be no fear of holiness, for holiness is God’s desire for all of his children.  Holiness is the result of God’s children living in holy love; being bathed by the Holy Spirit, filled to the point of overflowing and splashing out onto the surrounding world.  As we live in love, the fragrant offering of Jesus is spread to others because we want to imitate the actions of Christ. 

Holy love is all consuming and transforming and results in Jesus’ siblings becoming more and more like him as they walk in the pathway of holiness which he has provided.

Prayer:

Lord, may your holy love consume me today.  Amen.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Off Your Ornaments

-
Scripture: Ex. 33:4 ¶ When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. Ex. 33:5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’” Ex. 33:6 Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. Observation: The people had sinned before God by making and worshiping the golden calf!  They had taken their golden jewelry — the earrings and other items they had gotten from the Egyptians and used them to create an idol.  Now, in an act of humility and repentance they were to take off all of their jewelry and ornaments.  It was a time of mourning over their sin and it included intentional action on the part of the Israelites.  Application: We don’t do all that well with humility and repentance!  It seems that we live in a ti...
Read more

Does God Value Boys More than Girls?

-
Scripture: Lev. 12:1 ¶ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Lev. 12:2 Speak to the people of Israel, saying: ¶ If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. Lev. 12:3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Lev. 12:4 Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing, or come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed. Lev. 12:5 If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days. Lev. 12:6 ¶ When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. Lev. 12:7 He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement on her ...
Read more

On Grief and A Flute Player

-
Scripture: Matt. 9:23 When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, Matt. 9:24 he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. Matt. 9:25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. Matt. 9:26 And the report of this spread throughout that district. Observation: This is a simple story which we have heard or read numerous times. Jesus heals the little girl and the people rejoice. But at the moment in which he arrives at the home he encounters the professional mourners. These are the flute players, the ones who have come to make a great noise about the child’s death. It is the flute player that testifies to the fact that she is truly dead. Also, flutes were generally employed when it came to the death of a child. The whole community would therefore understand that it is a child who has died in this home. The flute player is doing the job they have ...
Read more