Let’s Forgive As Christ Forgave Us

 ^„And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” Ephesians 4:32. 

Forgiveness flows out of the heart of God the Father and Jesus. Billions of people have lived in the planet earth since creation and everybody sinned a lot of times. God forgave every sin of every person on the cross. He remembers them not. What a gift! We are commanded to do the same. Let us not keep hatred in our hearts towards one another. Let’s be like our Father and Jesus. Let’s learn to forgive, because we have been forgiven.  

Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” Ephesians 4:30. 

You can be upset and so can be the Holy Spirit. Certain things make you sad and there are things that make the Spirit of God sad. They are mentioned in the last verses of the fourth chapter to Ephesians. Our relationship with God is not some legal stuff. It is alive! There are emotions involved. You can rejoice in Him and He can rejoice about you. Both you and He can feel every positive emotion in your relationship. Negative emotions can also creep in if sin creeps in. Let’s us choose to make our Lord glad every single day. Amen.

Do Not Give Place to the Devil

“…nor give place to the devil…” Ephesians 4:27. 

For some Satan is a mystical character from fables, fairy tales or legends. He maybe, but he is surely more than that. He is a real fallen spirit that is fighting anything that is Godlike, opposes those that follow Christ and has evil purposes for humanity intending to drag all of us with him to hell. That might sound scary, but it should not. God gave us power of the rebellious spirit and if we command him to flee, he must flee. He has no choice. There is power in the name of Jesus. Use it, to defeat the enemy of our souls.

Put on the New Man

“…and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” Ephesians 4:23-24. 

When you put off the old man you have to do one more thing: to put on the new one. You cannot just do one without the other. Both actions have to take place. We are not rejecting evil, we also do good. Transformation into a completely different personality (in terms of your nature, character, and habits) has to take place. It happens when we change the way we think. Then other changes follow automatically: way of speaking, habits, actions and lifestyle. But we have to do it. We cannot leave an empty place in our lives after we cast out evil. We have to inhabit good! Christ and the values of His Kingdom is that new man. That person has to start living inside of us.

Putting Off Old Man

“…that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts...“ Ephesians 4:22.

Bible talks about two natures: carnal and spiritual, old and new. All of us have both. Any Christian should start his journey with Christ by putting off his/her old nature. That includes rejecting old way of thinking, habits, way of speaking and behavior. Your attitude should also change. There has to come an understanding that the way you were was not good. Our lifestyles separated us from God. The first step to undo this (after you receive Jesus as your Savior) is to throw away things that are foreign in the kingdom of God.

We will talk about second step tomorrow.

Speak Truth in Love

“…but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ...“ Ephesians 4:15. 

Love and truth are the key pillars in the teaching of Christ. Truth was the foundation of the Old Testament and teaching of Moses, but understanding of everlasting and unconditional love of God came to us through revelation that Jesus gave us. Bible teaches us not to like, but always speak the truth, yet the spirit in which we have to do it is based on love. Otherwise, we would simply be talking condemnation, bitter criticism or judgment to one another, which is not what God wants us to do.