Ephesians 5:1-2 NIV:
“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 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.”
Ephesians 5:1-2The Message (MSG):
Wake Up from Your Sleep
“Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with Him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of Himself to us. Love like that.”
Life Application Study Bible Notes on Ephesians 5:1, 2: “Just as children imitate their parents, we should imitate Christ. His great love for us led Him to sacrifice Himself so that we might live. Our love for others should be of the same kind—a love that goes beyond affection to self-sacrificing service.”
BarbTalk:
Reading the above scripture in the NIV and in the Message, followed by the Life Application Study Bible Notes, I am left speechless. Now let me talk about why I am speechless :-)
I especially love how the Message says, “Mostly what God does is love you”. What a beautiful statement on our worth in God’s eyes. We love hearing and understanding that someone loves us. And when that Someone is God of the Universe, that is beyond amazing.
Earlier today, I was reading in Philippians 2: 1-4, the Message:
“If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if His love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”
To me, that is Paul’s explanation of the first part of Ephesians 5:1: “Watch what God does, and then you do it.”
The first thing we do when we reach out to God is to agree with Him concerning our wrongdoing. He has a standard of perfection that He knows, on our own, we cannot and will not accomplish. He knows us inside and out, and in order for Him to be our Lord, we have to agree that we do not belong on the throne of our lives, He does. We agree with Him, then we ask forgiveness for all the areas where we have fallen short of His standard. Then we allow Him to go to work on us.
I love the story of how the Goldsmith purifies Gold. When gold is harvested, it is full of impurities. The Goldsmith puts the impure gold into a large container and proceeds to heat it up. The hotter the flame gets, the more the impurities rise. The Goldsmith scrapes away the impurities, and makes the flame hotter. More comes to the surface, and more gets scraped off. The Goldsmith knows the gold is pure when he can see his reflection in the gold.
Many times, God will allow heated situations into our lives. Sometimes the fire is unbearable. When it is, we certainly see what we are made of. “Where did that attitude come from?” “I thought I figured that out long ago.” “Oh! I thought I would never think or say that!”
Faced with all of our impurities, we start to not like ourselves very much. We can barely stand ourselves, how can God or anyone else? I truly believe that God knows every part of us, impurities and all. He knows what will hurt us, and He knows what is hiding inside of us. When He allows the fire to get hot, it is so He can scrape away the impurities that rise to the top. His goal is to see His reflection in us. No need to be mad at ourselves or attend a self-hate party. He is doing what is necessary. Thank You! is a good response. And also, please forgive me, and clean me up God! (Oh no! Here comes the ‘S’ word: Surrender!)
As we experience God’s grace and extravagant love, it is possible to begin to love like He does. We don’t always get it right. As we ‘test the waters’ of extravagant love, we might fail or fall or make a mess of things. And, like a toddler learning to walk, we need to let God pick us up and help us try again. My hope is that we never get old enough to not hang on for dear life to God. He is continually holding on to us.
What might extravagant love look like in our lives? We all struggle when it comes to putting others first. We have a hard time putting God first. Truth be told: we are out to bring attention to ourselves, have our needs and our desires met, and to be loved and admired. We have no problem being extravagant to ourselves or our children. But, what about the unlovely, unlovable of the world? What face comes to mind when you think, I hope I don’t run in to him or her! What phone call won’t you answer? What area of the city will we avoid because there are needy people looking for handouts? When was the last time that we went out of our way to talk to someone we did not know just to see how they were doing? How easy is it to be grumpy to someone who is grumpy to us? And what is that old ‘turn the other cheek business’?
We all do it. We all run. We all hide. We all look after me first. Is it impossible to fulfill what God asks of us? On our own, yes. Surrendering to Him and reading how He did it is the beginning of a beautiful ‘lovefest’. As we learn to accept His gracious gift of love, we are able to love others.
Many times, Pride will get in our way. We can build such a wall around us because of past hurts, that we are unable to receive good things from anyone, especially the Lord. The place to start may be to ask God to help us receive His love, grace and forgiveness. Gently, He will begin the work that He loves to do. He loves to love us. He loves to bring to life areas of us that we thought were long dead. He loves to give us direction and purpose. He has plans for us that are wonderful. It is too bad that we can’t just go grab those plans. We have to let lose of, and surrender our plans, to receive His.
Look at your hands. What are they filled with? What do they grab for? Look at your heart. What is it filled with? What makes it skip a beat? Look at your thoughts. Are they self-centered? Are the others-centered? How can any of this be different than it is?
I like to say that God is the God of the Possible. What we consider hopeless, He considers a possibility. What we think is the end, He thinks is the beginning. When we think love dies, He is in the business of resurrection! As we submit all we are, all we have and all we will be to God, He does what is necessary. He won’t bust into our lives. He needs to be invited. Try it. You won't be sorry. You will be blessed.
Today is a new day. This morning is new start, a new journey, and a new life. Now is a new chance to love like He does. Go, ask for help, His mercies are new every morning.
Lamentations 3:22-24:
“God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
His merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.”
“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 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.”
Ephesians 5:1-2The Message (MSG):
Wake Up from Your Sleep
“Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with Him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of Himself to us. Love like that.”
Life Application Study Bible Notes on Ephesians 5:1, 2: “Just as children imitate their parents, we should imitate Christ. His great love for us led Him to sacrifice Himself so that we might live. Our love for others should be of the same kind—a love that goes beyond affection to self-sacrificing service.”
BarbTalk:
Reading the above scripture in the NIV and in the Message, followed by the Life Application Study Bible Notes, I am left speechless. Now let me talk about why I am speechless :-)
I especially love how the Message says, “Mostly what God does is love you”. What a beautiful statement on our worth in God’s eyes. We love hearing and understanding that someone loves us. And when that Someone is God of the Universe, that is beyond amazing.
Earlier today, I was reading in Philippians 2: 1-4, the Message:
“If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if His love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”
To me, that is Paul’s explanation of the first part of Ephesians 5:1: “Watch what God does, and then you do it.”
The first thing we do when we reach out to God is to agree with Him concerning our wrongdoing. He has a standard of perfection that He knows, on our own, we cannot and will not accomplish. He knows us inside and out, and in order for Him to be our Lord, we have to agree that we do not belong on the throne of our lives, He does. We agree with Him, then we ask forgiveness for all the areas where we have fallen short of His standard. Then we allow Him to go to work on us.
I love the story of how the Goldsmith purifies Gold. When gold is harvested, it is full of impurities. The Goldsmith puts the impure gold into a large container and proceeds to heat it up. The hotter the flame gets, the more the impurities rise. The Goldsmith scrapes away the impurities, and makes the flame hotter. More comes to the surface, and more gets scraped off. The Goldsmith knows the gold is pure when he can see his reflection in the gold.
Many times, God will allow heated situations into our lives. Sometimes the fire is unbearable. When it is, we certainly see what we are made of. “Where did that attitude come from?” “I thought I figured that out long ago.” “Oh! I thought I would never think or say that!”
Faced with all of our impurities, we start to not like ourselves very much. We can barely stand ourselves, how can God or anyone else? I truly believe that God knows every part of us, impurities and all. He knows what will hurt us, and He knows what is hiding inside of us. When He allows the fire to get hot, it is so He can scrape away the impurities that rise to the top. His goal is to see His reflection in us. No need to be mad at ourselves or attend a self-hate party. He is doing what is necessary. Thank You! is a good response. And also, please forgive me, and clean me up God! (Oh no! Here comes the ‘S’ word: Surrender!)
As we experience God’s grace and extravagant love, it is possible to begin to love like He does. We don’t always get it right. As we ‘test the waters’ of extravagant love, we might fail or fall or make a mess of things. And, like a toddler learning to walk, we need to let God pick us up and help us try again. My hope is that we never get old enough to not hang on for dear life to God. He is continually holding on to us.
What might extravagant love look like in our lives? We all struggle when it comes to putting others first. We have a hard time putting God first. Truth be told: we are out to bring attention to ourselves, have our needs and our desires met, and to be loved and admired. We have no problem being extravagant to ourselves or our children. But, what about the unlovely, unlovable of the world? What face comes to mind when you think, I hope I don’t run in to him or her! What phone call won’t you answer? What area of the city will we avoid because there are needy people looking for handouts? When was the last time that we went out of our way to talk to someone we did not know just to see how they were doing? How easy is it to be grumpy to someone who is grumpy to us? And what is that old ‘turn the other cheek business’?
We all do it. We all run. We all hide. We all look after me first. Is it impossible to fulfill what God asks of us? On our own, yes. Surrendering to Him and reading how He did it is the beginning of a beautiful ‘lovefest’. As we learn to accept His gracious gift of love, we are able to love others.
Many times, Pride will get in our way. We can build such a wall around us because of past hurts, that we are unable to receive good things from anyone, especially the Lord. The place to start may be to ask God to help us receive His love, grace and forgiveness. Gently, He will begin the work that He loves to do. He loves to love us. He loves to bring to life areas of us that we thought were long dead. He loves to give us direction and purpose. He has plans for us that are wonderful. It is too bad that we can’t just go grab those plans. We have to let lose of, and surrender our plans, to receive His.
Look at your hands. What are they filled with? What do they grab for? Look at your heart. What is it filled with? What makes it skip a beat? Look at your thoughts. Are they self-centered? Are the others-centered? How can any of this be different than it is?
I like to say that God is the God of the Possible. What we consider hopeless, He considers a possibility. What we think is the end, He thinks is the beginning. When we think love dies, He is in the business of resurrection! As we submit all we are, all we have and all we will be to God, He does what is necessary. He won’t bust into our lives. He needs to be invited. Try it. You won't be sorry. You will be blessed.
Today is a new day. This morning is new start, a new journey, and a new life. Now is a new chance to love like He does. Go, ask for help, His mercies are new every morning.
Lamentations 3:22-24:
“God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
His merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.”
RSS Feed
