September 18, 2024
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Leviticus and Ephesians? Here’s today’s reading:
Ephesians 5 (NIV)
1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.……Continue Reading
Ephesians 5
Ephesians 5
Before reading chapter 5 I had been thinking about the road to Heaven being narrow. All of 5 is so very specific about how we are to behave imitating God’s ways. Living a life of love just as Christ loved us. Christ gave himself up “for us”, a beautiful smelling sacrifice and offering to God. But there should not be sexual immorality, greed, obscenity, foolish talk or nasty jokes. We are God’s holy people. But only thanksgiving! Such a man has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Live as children of the light.
I am sure I have read this many times but feel as if it’s the first understanding of what I read! The road is narrow and this is so specific.
Ephesians 5
Love this description of marriage. For a man to be the spiritual head of the family and to love his wife like Christ loved the church. Even to washing of feet. Love her in that manner and she delights in man being the leader. It’s a beautiful picture. What gifts I’m lacking my wife has and Vice versa. Put together. One body complete. You can try to redifine what a family is. But it will not be complete. Like a 100 piece puzzle missing 50 pieces
Ephesians 5 God wants us to be imitators of him we need to live a life of love as he loves us. We need to live in the light and avoid the trap of living impure lives letting greed and sexual immorality into our lives or putting something before God. Be filled with the Holy Spirit because we are no longer living in darkness, we have the light of the Lord and we need to let others see that light so we can be fruitful.
17 ¶ Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.
”For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”“
Ephesians 5:8-9, 11-14 NKJV
When you know Christ, it is obvious what is right and what is wrong. I think so the many sins that have become “acceptable” or justified or tolerated or promoted, even in the church…..homosexuality, mutilation, abortion, materialism, pride….we should be exposing these deeds of darkness. We talk in cloaked terms: “love”, identity, choice, equity, self-worth, to disguise the evil at the root of these practices.
”This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.“
Ephesians 5:32-33 NKJV
I was thinking a while ago about the scriptures about marriage- wives submitting, husbands – loving sacrificially and how people, even we, balk at these instructions and get caught up in the caveats to dismiss these roles in marriage, but we are missing the point. We are to be a picture of Christ and the church. Like the temple in the OT was a picture of the temple in heaven. The earthly examples are imperfect, yet we should strive to be that picture to the world that God is using us to be.
All good comments from all of you. All good to read. We as children of God should be walking in the light as He is in the light. In this world we are surrounded by evil and knowing that; we are to walk circumspectly redeeming the time. Eph. 5:15,16 {See then that you walk circumspectly; not as fools, but as wise. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.} We understand His will by walking with Him. What God means is that He wants us all as believers to draw closer to Him by praying to Him and reading His word. This is His main will for us. The direction for our lives comes after that. As we live for Him; He will guide and direct us to where He wants us and doing service for Him. Sometimes He will allow us to fail because we weren`t listening to Him and were doing our own thing or perhaps He was trying to teach us to fully trust Him. His time is not our time. There are things that He wants us to do to be in His will. He tells us to pray, to read the Bible, to have fellowship with each other, to witness for Him, to serve each other in the church with our gifts that He gave us. Also giving thanks being filled with the Spirit singing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. vs 18,19,20. Amy thanks for your good point that we often miss the point that a husband and wife represent Christ and the church. How far we fall short of not being the true models of Christ and His church. May we all follow Him closer in this regard. For none of us is better than anyone else and we all should submit to each other as Christ tells us. But Christ does hold the husband responsible for how the family is doing. That is a heavy burden; but Christ gives us His strength if we ask for it. May us husbands do better in this. God bless us as we follow Him.
Such a powerful and convicting thought to be imitators of God, recognizing the standards we should keep and the character we should have to do just that. Being people of light and love are good summarizing principles found here and that involves both things we should do and not do. We must be careful not to fall into sinful behavior that corrupts relationships and destroys our soul..purity is key! And how encouraging that God gives us the power of the Spirit to help us imitate Him. We just need to choose to be filled by Him, surrendering to HIs influence and not to the temptation that is all around. And what a powerful dynamic Paul expresses here as to how a marriage should function. The world and the church has misinterpreted it leading to misapplication and rejection of principles that meet men and women where they are at. What a powerful thing for a man to love a woman in the way that she deserves and a woman to submit to that love in a way that helps the man to be what God wants him to be. Once again there is so much brokenness that happens in marriage when these principles are not followed.
Ephesians 5