“Oct 23, 2024 - A Higher Way of Life”

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

A Higher Way of Life

Reading:  Ephesians 4:25-5:2
    
    Paul fleshes out what it means to “put off your old self” and “put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness”(Eph 4:22, 24).  God has expectations for how his people will live once they are redeemed and he has earned our allegiance by saving and forgiving us.  This higher way of life will mean that we must put away old, evil behaviors and replace them with new, holy behaviors.  “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another”(Eph 4:25).  We must stop lying.  But God does not want us to merely sit silently so that we do not lie; we replace our old habit with a new insistence on speaking truth at all times.  Stark honesty will be an adjustment.  We will still grow angry, but we do not let our anger to lead us to sin as we did before (Eph 4:26-27).  In place of our old habit of thieving and harming others, we “labor, doing honest work with (our) own hands”(Eph 4:28).  Instead of taking from others, we give.  Rather than using our speech to tear down and spread corruption, we speak encouraging words that bless those around us (Eph 4:29).  

    Paul then highlights our reaction when we are wounded by others.  “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you”(Eph 4:31-32).  Each word here (bitterness, wrath, slander, malice) represents a response to harm that God has now deemed inappropriate.  It’s who we used to be.  But now that we have been forgiven, we forgive each other.  Allowing anger to reign in our hearts, poisoning our view of others, is destructive and evil.

    With just a few verses, Paul throws down the gauntlet.  Each one of these areas holds a deep challenge.  Many of these practices have been burned into us as deeply ingrained habits.  Some of them are now parts of our personalities:  we are crotchety or loose with the truth or swift to anger.  Paul does not say this change will be easy.  But God has forgiven and changed us by his grace and now renews our minds.  These changes are possible and the higher way of life God calls us to, by his power, we can reach.

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One Thing to Think About: In which of these areas do I need the most work?

One Thing to Pray For:  Courage to confront my bad habits and power to overcome them
 

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