For His Glory: Smorgasbord Tuesday: Seven Layer Salad

Ephesians 4:1-6
I am in prison because I belong to the Lord.

Therefore I urge you who have been chosen

by God to live up to the life to which God called you.

Always be humble, gentle, and patient, accepting each other in love.

You are joined together with peace through the Spirit,

so make every effort to continue together in this way.

There is one body and one Spirit, and God called you to have one hope.

There is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.

There is one God and Father of everything.

He rules everything and is everywhere and is in everything.

Ephesians 4 is a powerful set of verses, so we might be here for a few Tuesdays! I am loving this section of verses because it shows a beautiful combination between faith and understanding of God and walking it out in the reality of our everyday lives.

I love how Paul starts this out: because I am in prison for the Lord do this... Don't you think we should listen to someone who is in prison for no other reason than obeying the Lord. And what does he have to say? Be sorry for me, this world is unjust, it's not worth the fight? No, he says live up to the life God has called you to!

Always be humble, gentle, and patient accepting one another in love!

I am planning on writing the above sentence out for myself this week. It is a high bar, and one I needed to be reminded of. Did you see the word at the end, LOVE. As I walk through everyday, I am becoming more and more convinced that the center is LOVE. Knowing first of all that God is love and that He loves us. Loving Him back and from that place we can launch into loving each other well.

You are joined together in peace through the Spirit,

so make every effort to remain that way.

Ephesians talks a lot about the great mystery and how we are all connected. Whether you like it or not, all of us Christians are joined together through the Holy Spirit. This verse lets us know we can stay the way God designed us to be together or not. God desires us to stay this way and this verse also lets us know it takes effort. Somehow America's version of Christianity has made it seem like everything in regard to faith will be fast & easy. But I don't think that is the case. The Bible would not have to continually remind us of how we were supposed to live, especially with one another and use words like "I urge you" and "effort" if it wasn't hard and didn't require work.

Luke 9:23

If anyone would come after me, he must deny

himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

The conclusion of this section of verses in Ephesians is the word ONE. There is one faith, one hope, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Let us live the way God wants us to live, as one with each other. As usually the best place to start working this out starts at home.