Read Eph. 4:1-10
Paul is imploring us to walk deserving and suitable to the invitation and calling God has called us to. We are to do this with modesty, lowliness, gentleness, fortitude, and putting up with one another in love. We are to eagerly guard our oneness in the Holy Spirit in the uniting principle of peace and prosperity. God is the god of one: one body, one spirit, one hope, one supreme Lord, one faith, one baptism, one deity - God, one Father of all living creatures. God is above us in time, place and order and everything channels through him and he is positioned in all of us. But we are all given favor according to the degree of the gift of Christ. When Jesus rose from the dead he led a crowd of captives with him from the grave. Matthew tells us that some of these people actually showed up on the streets of Jerusalem. (Matt. 27:52-53) God gave his gifts to men because we were to carry out what Jesus started. Jesus ascended down to Hades and set free those that had been waiting for the salvation of men to begin.
What really stands out to me in this section is putting up with one another in love and guarding our unity. All of this requires that we humbly give up our rights to our ideas, our agendas, and our time for the sake of those that need us. It is not easy for me to be selfless but that is what we need to be to keep our unity. It also means speaking the truth in love even if it means hurting someone's ego. If we do it in love, they will feel healing instead of judgment. Easier said than done. Lord help us to lay down our lives for the body and yet be bold in our stand against the wiles of the devil. Let us not be deceived into sloppy agape but truly put on love as our clothing.
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