Ephesians 5: 22-33
Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the Church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the Church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present to Himself the Church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought to also love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the Church, because we are members of His body.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24.)
This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the Church.
Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.
This is a rather long passage. I notice, though, that Paul spends twice as much space talking to the husbands than he does to the wives.
Wives are counseled to give their husbands the respect that is a man's most basic and fundamental need, to be looked up to. She is to show this respect in observing the rank of authority her husband has over her, in her obeying and being subject to Him in the Lord. Regardless of his character or personality.
Jesus complemented the Centurion for his faith when he showed understanding of the order of authority (Luke 7:9). We also must recognize the order of authority we have over and under others. So the husband out-ranks the wife.
This does not mean he is better than she is, or more important, or more valuable, he just holds a higher rank of authority over her.
So she has a high standard to live out with her husband.
The husband, on the other hand, is given much more responsibility in the marriage. He represents the head over her, as Christ is head over the Church Universal. He is to live with his wife with the same attitude Christ has toward His Church--of sacrificial benefit toward her.
How many men would be able to live up to that standard? Not any, I would suppose. But he is responsible for her, to care for her and take care of her, to do for her sacrificially whatever it is she needs. And he does have the final word, the final decision.
The verse that immediately precedes this passage tells us all to be subject to one another in Christ. So this also applies to both wives and husbands, as well as all the rest of us.
O my Father, You take such good care of all of us--You have given us all this beautiful Earth, with the Moon and Stars, in the Universe. You have put in this Earth everything we will ever need while we live here, to build our World upon it and to care for one another.
Father, You have given wives to husbands, and husbands to wives, to form the societies that build civilizations.
And You have given us Your written Word, with its laws, rules, guidelines and advice; so we would learn how to treat one another, and how to love with Your Love. To reap all the bounty You built into this Earth.
Father, when Your people Israel followed Your rules, they prospered. But when they forgot that You are the Giver, is when they turned away from You to idols, and lost the wealth they had had. We see this cycle repeat for over 400 years in the Book of Judges.
Now You have given us Your Holy Spirit to live inside us, to teach us and lead us and keep us in Your compassionate care. And to give us the power to obey all Your laws and rules, that are now principles that go farther than the Law did.
Now we are to love one another with Your Love, not just our own human love. You call us to live super-human lives, with spiritual power and might, beyond our human abilities and capabilities.
You have called us to a royal life, becoming servants to one another, to learn how to be Your children. The children of the Great King, who gave Himself as the Sacrifice to cleanse His bride.
So, Father, teach us how to humble ourselves in service to one another; teach wives how to honor and respect their husbands, teach husbands how to sacrificially serve their wives.
Teach us all how to be subject to one another, considering our neighbor's needs before our own, even when that neighbor sleeps on the other side of our bed as our spouse. Or in the next room as our family member.
Let our charity begin at home with our own hearts and our own families. As Christians we all live in glass houses, that the World watches critically, looking for cracks and imperfections to exploit.
And our enemy is still and ever more furiously working to destroy families and twist God's good gifts into unrecognizable monstrosities.
O Father God, please strengthen Your own. Show us how to be strong in Your strength. Help us to be wise with Your wisdom. Grant us to be compassionate with Your compassion.
And may Your Truth be proclaimed throughout the Earth, that it would set free the captives, break the chains that bind, and collapse the prison walls, to liberate those imprisoned by the lies of the enemy.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Ephesians 5: 8-21
For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light
Continuing from yesterday, when we talked about the darkness we came out of, now we are to live differently than we used to. We can see now, we're not just in the Light, but now we are the Light.
(For the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and Truth),
Fruit is the result, what comes of living.
Goodness is wholesomeness, excellence of quality.
Righteousness is right-ness, the quality or state of being just or rightful.
And Truth is the actual state of a matter, reality, verity, actual existence.
God is Truth, He is the reality of what is. He is the self-existent One, the ultimate eternal state of being.
Trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
This is a complete change of attitude, demeanor, thinking processes, from how we lived before we were saved from sin. It's a process of learning.
Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;
We are not to just go along with our friends, as though we are not changed. We are to run from them, and uncover the reality of how these things are harmful and evil.
For it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.
It is disgraceful, disgusting, to even talk about the kinds of things they do behind closed doors. Talking about them puts our focus on the negative, instead of the positive.
But all things become visible when they are exposed by the Light, for everything that becomes visible is light.
Whatever the light shines on becomes visible, we can see it. It's not hidden any more, it's out in the open.
For this reason it says: Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. (Quoting Isaiah 60:1)
Paul studied the Scriptures in the Greek, so this is the Septuagint wording he is applying, as having been fulfilled in us today. Isaiah's talking about the "gross darkness" that will cover the Earth and be on the people, and the Light of the Lord will shine on them to dispel the darkness (Isaiah 60:1-3).
Now that Christ has come, He has shone His Light on us, and dispelled the darkness that was in us, so that we are now His Light to shine on others in the World.
Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise,
Because we are now Light, we must take care to not slip back into any of the old ways, which would be foolish; but learn to live our daily lives according to His ways, which is the wise thing to do, and benefits all of us.
Making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Time is the one commodity we cannot multiply; we have only 24 hours in each day, and a limited number of days to live. So we must do what we can when we can, and try not to waste any of the precious hours He has given us.
There is always evil around us every day, as we live in the World. But we must take care not to be influenced by it any more. Learn who God is, to model His character; learn who Jesus is, think like He does. Then you will understand what His will is for you to do, to respond to whatever situation you might find yourself in.
Here's another tip:
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
Do not let spirits control you, but allow God's Holy Spirit to control you.
Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
Here's how it looks: we're sharing with one another as though we're living out the lyrics of an old Gospel song, or a praise chorus, or a hymn; and we're listening to the song in our heart, using it to give praise to the Lord.
Always giving thanks for all things in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father,
The result of all this music is that we will be living lives of gratitude, appreciating everything God gives us every day, living in His constant Presence. I read years ago how Brother Andrew would "practice the presence of God" every day and have tried to keep that idea in mind.
And be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
And we will see one another as worth our respect, and consider helping them with their needs before our own; pausing to think how they will see it instead of automatically reacting. Because Christ did not consider His own Life but gave it up for us.
O my Father, Your kindness to us in laying out the particulars of how to love You and how to love ourselves and how to love others, is so generous and compassionate of you. You don't want us to mistake any of our enemy's counterfeits.
You are good, You are Life, You are Light, You are our Source and our Completion. You are all we ever need in this life and in the next. You only are our Almighty God, with all power and might and wisdom and understanding and skill and ability and and and ... ... ...
Thank You so much, my Father! Thank You for language and music and melody. Thank you for Your written Word, for science, and for knowledge and understanding. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit to live inside our spirits, giving us Light and Life in ourselves!
He is the Spirit of Truth, and the Spirit of Love, and the Spirit of Life! He is Your Spirit, Father, and the Spirit of Jesus. He is Your Person in us to teach us all we need to learn to know and practice, to prepare us to be Your good kings and queens to minister to You in administering Your Kingdom, throughout all future Eternity, forever and ever.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Ephesians 5: 1-7
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
We need to let our goodness outshine the evil that is growing all around us.
But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints;
Immorality is any quality, character or conduct of wickedness or evil.
Impurity is an attitude that is mixed with extraneous matter of an inferior and contaminating nature; obscenity.
Greed is excessive or rapacious desire, especially for wealth or possessions.
These ways of seeing the World are not proper for a member of God's family, and need not even ever be mentioned among us.
And there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
Filthiness is anything not clean; and it is paired with silly talk, which is
weak-minded or lacking good sense; so it is conversation that has no worthy purpose. Which goes with coarse jesting, which is vulgar, obscene and crude. Don't even try to joke about these things.
Instead we are to have an attitude of gratitude, be constantly looking for what we can honestly compliment and approve of.
For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolator, has an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.
Immorality and impurity are attitudes totally opposite to what God's character is, and one who is covetous is inordinately and greedily desirous of this World's goods, which is taking the place of God in his life.
Anything someone puts first in their life is their god.
So we need to examine our priorities. Is our relationship with our Father the most important relationship in our lives? What are we putting between us and our Father, that we just need to finish before we turn to Him?
And what are we allowing our eyes to look at? Or what are we letting into our minds through the TV or movies we're watching? Or the magazines we indulge in?
Or what are we allowing our tongues to wag about? Bragging on someone's good points? Or the juicy tidbits we just learned and can't wait to share?
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.
Don't fool yourself thinking that just a little of these things is all right. If your friends are into any of these things, at all, then just leave them and choose to do what's right.
We are to run from evil and temptations, because they are too dangerous for us. We are too easily tripped up, dancing on the edge of the precipice. Run as far as you can from it.
O my Father, please help us to be careful with what we allow in our minds. Our thoughts are the root of our attitudes, which come out our mouths and hands. What we say and what we do are to exemplify Your character, Father, before the World.
Help us to be immediately aware of when we're slipping off Your path the least bit, before we slide into the ditch; then need You to pull us out and clean us up again.
O Father, You are so good to us. You're so patient to put up with so much that we do, that we're not even aware of. Help us to recognize our own depravity, Father, and strengthen us in Your thoughts and ways. Exercise our spiritual muscles to grow strong to not allow any of that weakness of our flesh trip us up any more.
We are Your princes and princesses, teach us to comport ourselves accordingly.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Ephesians 2: 1-10
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
Trespasses are acts against the law, and sins are times we just don't hit the bulls-eye. We're all guilty.
In which you formerly walked according to the course of this World,
We all, before we were saved, lived our lives according to worldly attitudes.
According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
This prince is the "god of this World," Satan, the devil, our enemy who received the authority over the World when Adam gave it over to him by obeying him instead of God.
This is the spirit who is working in all those who disobey God's laws, following their own ideas, instead. Or what they think are their own ideas, actually what this evil spirit is telling them.
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
We Christians, before we were saved, also lived our lives wanting what we want right now (lust) to satisfy our own ease and pleasures.
And were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Not because of what we did, but by nature, we were born with that damaged DNA that causes us to make foolish choices to act in our own interests, not God's, who wants only the best for each of us.
But God, being rich in mercy,
Mercy is God not giving us the wrath, the punishment we deserve.
Because of His great Love with which He Loved us,
God is Love, and He Loves us unconditionally, just because we are His creatures.
Even when we were dead in our transgressions,
We are born with dead spirits, having inherited that Original Sin that Scripture calls "sinful flesh," or the "sinful human nature." This is why we all end up disobeying His laws, becoming transgressors.
Made us alive
When we turn to God, admitting that we deserve death, letting Jesus take our death for us on the Cross as our personal Sacrifice, then He puts His own Holy Spirit in our spirit, giving it Life, making us Alive.
Together with Christ
We are joined together to be connected with Christ.
Just as our body parts are all connected to be one body, we are connected to Christ as our Head, and we are His body.
(By grace you have been saved),
Grace [God's Riches At Christ's Expense] is God giving us the good that we could never earn.
And raised us up with Him,
We already have His Resurrection Life living in us in His Holy Spirit.
And seated us with Him in the Heavenlies in Christ Jesus,
God sees the end from the beginning, so He sees us as already Glorified and participating in King Jesus' ruling Creation on His Throne.
So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
We will be the trophies of His grace--in His Redeeming us out of sin, washing us pristine clean in the Blood of the Lamb, forgiving us, promoting us, causing us to be born into His own family, and adopting us by pronouncing that we are adults in His family with all the responsibilities and benefits of running His Family Business.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that [faith] not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
So it is not a result of anything we can do, since everything we do comes from our "sinful human nature." It is God's free gift. Even the faith by which we believe is His gift, since, No man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him (John 6:44), and, All that the Father gives Me shall come to me (John 6:37), and, Therefore I said to you no man can come to Me, except it were given to him by My Father (John 6:65).
None of us can boast of anything we have done to make God see us. He already sees us, and Loves us anyway. He cannot accept anything that comes from anything that is stained by sin, so He has done it all. For us. For our benefit, and His glory.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
God created us in the first place, then He created a new Life in us when He saved us. So we are His workmanship that He decided would do good works that He planned for us beforehand so we would live like that, instead of how we lived before we were saved.
We are to be different. We are to be in the World but not of the World. We are to have different attitudes, thoughts, and lifestyle than we had before we encountered God when He came into our lives.
When God puts His Life into us, everything changes. Nothing around us changes, but we have "new eyes" to see everything differently than we did before. Now we can "see" stuff that we never noticed before, and much more clearly and detailed than before.
We still have our "sinful human nature," but now we also have God's Life living in us that has power and authority over the old nature, to give us new, better, righteous choices to make. We never have to go back to the old ways again.
O my Father, You are so good to all of us! You thought out every detail in advance, then proceeded to let it all play out, under Your direction, so logically and reasonably according to how You determined it all.
And everything is working together into one, glorious, magnificent story of Mankind!
And we win. After all the struggles, all the trials, all the mistakes, all the evil workings against us, all the sorrows, all the troubles; we win.
Because we are in Christ, the Victor! Our Champion! Our Lord and King and Mighty Warrior!
Thank You so much, dear Father, for choosing us, and drawing us, and giving us to Your Son. Thank You so much for being our Good Father and our Almighty God! Thank You for Your power, Your authority, Your wisdom, Your compassion, Your kindness, Your mercy and grace.
Thank You for the unimaginable future You have planned for us, Father!
Please continue to prepare us in this Earthly school, as we spend the few moments of our life here learning to be Your sons and daughters. Continue to strengthen us, and enlighten us, and lead and guide us into Your paths of righteousness to enlighten this World we live in, to show the World by our Love for one another that Christ Jesus came for them, too.
Father, continue to grow me in Your grace and graciousness. Continue to teach me how to love my neighbor with Your unconditional Love. Show me what to do to demonstrate that Love to others.
Use me, Father, to broadcast Your precious seed of the Gospel into Your mission fields, to inform and enlighten those who are searching for You. Send me out into the areas You would have me go into, to enlarge my borders and work Your works to promote Your Kingdom.
And bring all the lost sheep into Your fold, Father, that there be One Fold with One Shepherd.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Ephesians 1: 15-23
For this reason
Because of what he just said in the first part of this chapter (yesterday's blog entry).
I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you
And because they believe in Christ Jesus.
And your love for all the saints,
They've demonstrated their faith by their treatment of one another.
Do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers;
While Paul prays for their needs, he also gives thanks for them; this is an encouragement.
This is what he prays for:
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
O that the Father would grant us all His Spirit of wisdom, to understand; and revelation, to perceive what we didn't know before; in the knowledge of Him, both the Father and the Son, and their plan for the Ages and our part in it.
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened
That God's Light would be in our heart, our emotions, our feelings, our passions.
So that you will know the hope of His calling,
To understand all that God wants to give us and do for us when He calls us to Himself.
What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
All the wealth of all the ages, and all the Source of wealth in Heaven, that our Father will put at our disposal to enjoy and to use in our responsibilities in His Family Business.
And what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.
The might and strength and power to do His will and carry out His directives, both now and in the World to come.
These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead
The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same Spirit that lives in each one of us who believe.
And seated Him at His right hand in the Heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this Age but also in the one to come.
Because Jesus humbled Himself to become a Man with a true human nature, and stooped so low as to take on Himself to die the shameful death of a criminal, the death each of us deserves; thereby conquering death to rule over it--God the Father granted Him to have the authority to take full responsibility for all of Mankind, to be our Savior and Redeemer, and also to be our King and our Judge.
And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him as Head over the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
So Jesus Christ is the Lord God Almighty over all creation, having the power and authority to rule and govern and judge every creature, of every age and time.
And, as we the Church are His body, we are His hands and feet to do His work. What He does, He does through His body; just as my brain in my head tells my body what to do, Jesus is our head who directs our activities.
Right now in this World during this Age we are living in, through the days ahead marching into His Glorious Appearing and setting up His Kingdom to rule for a thousand years.
And on through the explosion of this Earth and the implosion of this Universe; and the forming of the New Heaven and New Earth, completely different than this one we know; into sitting on His Throne with Him, ruling and governing His Kingdom in His authority, through all eternity, forever and ever!
O my Father, You are tremendous! Your wisdom and understanding gives order and logic and reason to the chaos. This is Your Love loving Your Creation.
And Your Love has made Mankind, and Redeemed Mankind to the state You originally intended us to be. Father, You want us to want to come to you and love You back, so we have that choice.
So many of us of Mankind have fallen into such depravity that we seem to have no hope, being addicted to the deceptive attitudes and lifestyles that lead to death. Our enemy, the Liar, is hard at work, laboring intensely to keep Mankind out of Your Loving lap and away from everything that is lovely and beautiful and beneficial, keeping us in the dark.
But You sent Your Son to conquer that death, to gain the victory and win the war against the Liar and his minions. And He has accomplished that directive. When He comes again, He will tie up the loose ends, and actually destroy death as He has destroyed all other things that were against us.
And His Kingdom and Peace shall continue to reign and grow and increase throughout all eternity future. And Father, You have granted us, His body, to reign with Him!
This is incredible! This is so much more than I would ever even think of or want. I think that I would just want to be comfortable, not even that wealthy. But Your plan for me, as part of Your Great Plan of the Ages, goes way above the top!
I can't even imagine what all You have in store for me, and for all of us who believe.
O Father, please send workers into Your mission fields. Send out Your Word, that will not return to you empty, without accomplishing Your purposes.
Reach out to all Your little lambs who haven't yet heard of You, let them know of Your Love, and draw them into the safety of the fold, that there will be One Fold and One Shepherd.
And cover the Earth with Your Good News, Father, that every creature would hear and perceive and understand to make a clear and informed choice to accept or reject Your grace and mercy.
That all the lost will be found, and no one will have any excuse, without exception.
And every eye will see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will proclaim in every language that Jesus Christ is Lord over all, to the glory of God the Father.
Even so, come Lord Jesus!
Ephesians 1: 3-14
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places in Christ,
God the Father sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, who is our Lord, our Boss; so that He could bless us abundantly with everything He could do for us, as we are "in Christ," attached to Him as His "body parts."
Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the World, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.
In Love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
Before God created the Universe, He planned it all out (predestined us). He decided to make Mankind to be His own children, to be His kings and queens to govern and rule all the Universes He had in mind to make (adoption as sons).
But He knew we would not all choose to love Him back, that we would need to be Redeemed, so He could fit us to be suitable to dwell in His presence, where He is, (holy and blameless).
Now we are "in Christ," attached to Him as His body parts. This is all according to the kind intention of His will, the good pleasure of His will.
To the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
Made us accepted in the Beloved.
God's grace, so gracious, giving us the good we don't deserve and can never earn; He is so generous and lavish in showering on us all the benefits and advantages and prestige of the Son Himself, who is Beloved! So, in Him we also are Beloved, as His body.
In Him we have Redemption through His Blood,
If God let any shadow of a stain of sin
to dwell with Him, then Heaven would eventually get as chaotic and
difficult as this World has become. That's why Jesus came to be
our Sacrificial Lamb of God.
the forgiveness of our trespasses,
To fulfill the sacrificial Laws that would
wash us clean, as though we'd never sinned (He took our place, as our
personal Sacrifice, Leviticus 1). That is what makes us fit to live with
God in Heaven (holy and blameless). Now that His justice is satisfied, God can forgive us unconditionally.
according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.
That's how much He Loves you! And me! Each one of us!
In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will,
He told us what He is doing and the whole story of how He is taking care of us.
according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him
He intended for Jesus to take our place, God laying on Him the wrath we deserve, as though
we died; and as Jesus rose from the dead, we also receive that same Holy
Spirit that raised Him, to live in us, with Resurrection Life.
with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the Heavens and things on the Earth.
His Family Business right now is running our Universe. He has Angels to help Him as His servants, but He wants us to be His kings and queens to rule and govern it with Him, in an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, the finishing of this World.
He likes us, He wants to spend time with us, He wants us to live with Him and participate with Him in what He likes to do. And He likes to create Universes and plan out how they will run, and the courses they will take, like He did with this Earth in this Universe.
Or maybe when He's finished with this one, He will think up some other scheme of stuff--who knows but God alone! He's God, He does whatever He wants to do. And He wants us to enjoy it all, too, with him.
This is what I find so incredible. I think I know me. But God knows me better than I do, and I just have to believe what He says about me, not what I think.
And He says I'm accepted as a Beloved person, in Christ; I am Redeemed and sin has no power over me any more; His Blood washed me clean, as white as snow; and His power in me in His Holy Spirit enables me to do what He wants me to do. And what this is, is what makes me joyful and healthy and prosperous, with purpose and value to benefit others.
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance,
This is the inheritance we now have, in Christ.
having been predestined
God decided ahead of Time what He would do with us.
according to His purpose
According to His reasons.
who works all things after the counsel of His will,
God does what He wants to do.
to the end
Here's the conclusion of the matter.
that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.
Paul and the Apostles and the founding members of God's Church.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation; having also believed,
And us, also, after we heard the Gospel, we believed, too.
you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of Promise,
God made sure we would never slip away, so He gave us His Holy Spirit, just as He promised.
Who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.
This Holy Spirit is our down-payment that guarantees the full purchase, the Redemption of our physical bodies into the spiritual bodies we will have; our "adoption," when we will be declared Adult children in God's family, prepared to assume our responsibilities as His kings and queens to assist Him in running His Family Business.
To the Praise of His Glory! He receives all the credit. All the fame. All the attention. All the praise and accolades and applause.
Because it's all His idea in the first place. It's all His power and strength to do it all. It's His intelligence and genius and cleverness to get it all right. And His patience and persistence and stick-to-it-ive-ness that got it all finished.
And when He's done with all of this, only He knows what He will do next, and after that, and after that too, forever and ever!
Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end! (Isaiah 9:7).
O my Father, You are great, You are wise, You are good, You are Light, You are Life, You are Love; You are our Source and our Finish. You are our Everything!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Colossians 3: 12-14
And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
Because we have been chosen by God to be holy and Loved by Him, therefore we are to put on, like getting dressed:
A heart of compassion--allow my feelings to be grieved with the sorrows of others.
Kindness--having a benevolent disposition toward the other person.
Humility--not thinking less of myself, but thinking of myself less; focused on the other person instead of on myself.
Gentleness--being moderate, mild, amiable; not harsh, severe, or rough.
Patience--slow down and give them space to come around in their time, not mine.
Bearing with one another--let them be who they are, they're not me.
Whoever has a complaint--don't look at what I don't agree with; don't criticize or gossip; let it pass and roll off me like water off a duck's back.
Just as the Lord forgave you--just as my Lord took my faults and failings (sins) on the Cross for me, He also took theirs: I must forgive as I have been forgiven.
Put on Love--Love is the perfect Bond of Unity because it is the basis of all Creation, and it permeates everything and wraps it all up, bringing it all to perfection.
God is Love (I John 4:8); everything He does comes from Love, because that is who He is. And He has put His Love into each one of His children, in His Holy Spirit, and we are to show forth this Love in full view of the World.
The World does not understand what real Love is. The enemy has deceived them to think that it is something foreign to the reality that it is.
Real Love is wanting the very best for the one loved, regardless of what it will cost me. It's wanting the long-term benefit for them, even if it means something painful to get there. Even when it costs me severely.
God Loves each one of us so much that He sacrificed His very best most precious, so that we could be with Him. Can we do any less for one another?
Jesus said that when the World around us sees how we sacrificially love one another in His Name, then they will realize who Jesus is, and that He came to save them, too (John 13:35). Whether they accept this for themselves is their own decision.
O my Father, please help me to display to my neighbors the Love with which You have Loved me. Show me how to benefit them, how to help them in ways they need help with. Teach me how to communicate to them Your Truth of who You are: Love.
Help me to be aware of what is going on around me in my world; to pay attention to those who are near me to draw them into my circle of influence, to convince them of who You are and how much You Love them, too.
Use me, Father, as Your hands and Your feet and Your voice speaking Your words of compassion and kindness, bearing with their faults and insults, and having patience with their hesitation, giving them space to turn to You in their time, in Your Time, Father.
Lead me each step, in Your footsteps, my Lord, as I follow You. Enable me to do the works You do; as You, Jesus, did the works You saw the Father doing. Bring me to where You are working, and let me work beside You, hand-in-hand with You, yoked in the same yoke, pulling the same load.
Let me do all the works You planned for me to carry out, to accomplish Your whole Will to complete Your great Plan of the Ages, in Your way, in Your time.
And You will receive all the glory, for it is You who has done it all. You have created, and used Your creature to do what You wanted done, and completed it all.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
