A Life Worthy

Tag: Ephesians

  • One-a-Day Wednesday, 11/6/13

    number 1For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  (Ephesians 6:12)

    Ever have that nightmare where you’re being chased by a terrible monster, and no matter how fast you run it keeps getting closer and closer, and you’re absolutely powerless to stop it?

    It’s kinda like that.

    Only worse, because it’s real.

    Physical skills cannot suffice against spiritual evil.  And that’s what you and I face each day as we go about our business.

    Your only hope, my only hope, the only hope, is to let the righteous power of God guard us.

    Don’t get macho about this.  There’s too much at stake.

  • One-a-Day Tuesday, 11/5/13

    number 1Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  (Ephesians 6:11).

    My kids got invited to go quadding a few weeks ago. Their uncle, who was in charge of the outing, made sure that everyone was outfitted with protective gear.  Helmet, gloves, goggles, chest protector—you didn’t ride if you weren’t protected.

    It was a good thing, too.  One of the boys took an epic fall.  All that gear that he was wearing saved his bacon, not to mention his head, chest, etc.  He was knocked around and shaken up; without his armor, he could have been seriously injured.

    An interesting note.  It wasn’t his armor.  The gear was provided for him free of charge by someone who knew what he needed, and what dangers he was facing.

    The quad, the hills, the rocks—they weren’t out to get anybody.  They were simply passive objects that presented a hazard.  You have an enemy that is anything but passive.

    Is your gear on?

  • One-a-Day Friday, 11/1/13

    Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesiansnumber 1 5:21)

    Submission is the essence of relationship.  When we put ourselves first, we aren’t really capable of loving anyone.  Our own desires blind us to what the other person needs and wants.  When we learn to submit, to see the other person’s needs and put them ahead of our own, we take the first step in learning to love.  Jesus Christ provided us the perfect example of submission.  Without his submission to the Father, we would be forever lost.  When we follow his example, we honor him and build godly relationships at the same time.

    This verse leads into Paul’s famous section on submission.  Paul is going to talk about husbands and wives, parents and children, even slaves and masters.  No matter what the relationship, the principal is the same.  Put the other first.  Don’t worry about what you need, or what you think you need.  Trust your needs to God, and focus on the other person.

    So, to whom do you need to submit today?  Gird your loins—this oughta be fun!

  • One-a-Day Friday, 10/25/13

    number 1…find out what pleases the Lord (Ephesians 5:10).

    There’s a big difference between desire and love.  Desire is about you—your wants, your needs, and how the object of your desire can fulfill them.  Even the term, “Object of your desire,” denotes a thing, not a person.

    Love is not about you; it is about the beloved.  Your wants, your needs are subordinated to theirs.  When you love someone, you want to know everything about them.  So you spend hours with them, hanging on their every word.  You study them, looking for the things they like to do, to eat, to wear.  Kind of like stalking, only not so creepy.  You pay attention; you get to know them.  Then you show your love by doing things that you know they’ll appreciate.  It can be hard work, but it feels like pure joy.

    When was the last time you dove into Scripture with the sole purpose of knowing God better, of finding out what makes him happy?  Better question: When will be the next time?

  • One-a-Day Thursday, 10/24/13

    number 1For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light… (Ephesians 5:8)

    Right now our neighborhood is decorating for Halloween.  Witches, ghosts, tombstones, zombie creatures, bloody body parts—they cover the lawns and hang from the windows of houses up and down our street.  If ever there was a time that glorified darkness, this is it.

    As children of God, we are called to be different.  We are light. Notice that the verse doesn’t say that we have light, but that we are light.  Light has nothing to do with darkness.  I’m not saying that it shouldn’t, but that it can’t.  Go into a dark room and flick on the light switch.  What happens to the darkness?

    Gone.

    Just as sin can’t exist in the presence of God, darkness can’t exist in the presence of light.  Don’t kid yourself into thinking you can play the games that the world plays.  If you dabble in darkness, you can’t live as light.

    Does that mean that you can’t be living for Christ and have witches hanging from your windows and zombies bursting forth from your lawn?

    Pretty much.

    Look, I don’t want to step on any toes.  I’ll let God do it.

    Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.  For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?  Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?  (2 Corinthians 6:14)

    Where there is no light, there is darkness.

    Where light is, darkness cannot be.

    Go, Beloved of God, and live as a child of light today.

  • One-a-Day Tuesday, 10/22/13

    number 1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children… (Ephesians 5:1).

    Have you ever watched a son watch his father? The boy studies the man, soaking up the Dadness of it all.  Words, clothing, even mannerisms—the child models after what he observes.  Often, the child does not even realize what is going on.  He is simply watching, and becoming what he sees.  This can be dangerous, because not all of Dad’s ways are worthy of imitation.  Thus the origin of the phrase, “Do as I say, not as I do.”

    We have a Father who says, “Do as I say; do as I do; do as I am.”  All his ways are perfectly worthy of imitation.  Study him closely today.  Look for him in his Word, in his world, and in his people.  Then, do your best to be what you see.

    Go ahead—be a copycat.

  • One-a-Day Thursday, 10/17/13

    So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you number 1must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.  They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. (Ephesians 4:17-18)

    It’s amazing how often I catch myself thinking, acting, behaving, “As the Gentiles do.”  Remember, Beloved of God, that you have been freed from all that.  You have a whole new frame of reference for living. Let’s work this verse backwards…

    He has given you a new heart,

    So you are free of the ignorance which separated you from God.

    God has enlightened you and made your plans and thoughts fruitful.

    Go and live your Thursday—in the world, yet free from it.

  • One-a-Day Wednesday, 10/16/13

    number 1Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.  Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.  (Ephesians 4:14-15)

    When is “Then?”  As in, “Then we will no longer be infants..?”  Scripture tells us it is when we become mature in Christ.

    Ah.

    And when will that be?

    Good question.  How many times have you felt like you were being blown hither, thither, and yon by people claiming to know what’s what?  I remember, as a baby Christian, being caught up in a group of people who taught that the Rapture was imminent—like, right now imminent.  One woman came into work and told me, with great excitement, that she had heard the trumpets begin to sound that very morning.

    Twenty-six years later, it would appear that she was wrong.  But what did I know?  I was an infant, maybe two or three months old in Christ.  I was tossed about quite a lot in those days.  God, however, is faithful, and over the years he’s taught me to surf.

    Here’s a promise—you will grow.  You are growing, right now, even as you think about and chew on his Word.  Every day, moment by moment by moment, God is conforming you to the image of his Son.  Your words are growing richer in wisdom, and fuller of love. Not always, but often, and more so as the days go by.  You will grow, by his grace and in his time, into the person he has called you to be.

    In the meantime, hold on tight when the waves get high.

  • One-a-Day Monday 10/14/13

    number 1Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen.     (Eph. 3:20-21)

    Now, there’s a kick-start to your week!

    I have quite an imagination.  I mean, I can be pretty creative, you know? But I serve a God who can do “immeasurably more” than I can even think of asking for.  Once again, Paul reminds me that God is too big for me to wrap my brain around.  And yet, that power—the power that created the universe—lives in me.  That sound you hear?  That is my brain exploding.

    Yes, to him be glory for ever and ever!!!

  • One-a-Day Wednesday 10/9/13

    number 1For he (God) chose us in him (Jesus) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight (Ephesians 1:4).

    You are the chosen one.

    Well, maybe not the chosen one, but certainly a chosen one.

    Before he made the world, God had you in mind.  He knew who you would be, how you would be, your many sins, your epic, endless failures.

    And he loved you.

    And he chose you.

    Wow.

    Consider this: God is not bound by time, right?  Past, present, future—it’s all kind of now to him.  So, when he looks at you he sees you not only as you are, but as you will be.

    Holy.

    Blameless.

    Now, if only you could learn to see yourself as he sees you.