Liz’s Morning Devotional based upon Upper Room
March 28, 2022
Read Ephesians 5:1-11
1 Therefore, imitate God like dearly loved children. 2 Live your life with love, following the example of Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us. He was a sacrificial offering that smelled sweet to God. 3 Sexual immorality, and any kind of impurity or greed, shouldn’t even be mentioned among you, which is right for holy persons. 4 Obscene language, silly talk, or vulgar jokes aren’t acceptable for believers. Instead, there should be thanksgiving. 5 Because you know for sure that persons who are sexually immoral, impure, or greedy—which happens when things become gods—those persons won’t inherit the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Nobody should deceive you with stupid ideas. God’s anger comes down on those who are disobedient because of this kind of thing. 7 So you shouldn’t have anything to do with them. 8 You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, so live your life as children of light. 9 Light produces fruit that consists of every sort of goodness, justice, and truth. 10 Therefore, test everything to see what’s pleasing to the Lord, 11 and don’t participate in the unfruitful actions of darkness. Instead, you should reveal the truth about them.
Good Morning, We should live our lives with love!
We are one in the spirit, we are one love . . . Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love. Remember when you were a child and you liked to imitate others. Sometimes others found this to be cute, but other times you became annoying, especially to those you were imitating.
God sent Jesus to walk among us and show us the way. For that time, Jesus’ ways were radically different from what were the accepted norms of behavior. Jesus was loving and accepting of all. The first big change was that He made no distinctions between rich and poor. Those in power were annoyed that this supposed Messiah didn’t come to them first so that they could welcome Him appropriately.
Instead, they saw this man wandering around from village to village eating with the outcasts: the poor, the sick, and the lame. Even more annoying to the Pharisees is that others were choosing to follow this stranger who was teaching love for all. Because the Pharisees were blinded by their greed and lust for power, they could not see Jesus as the son of God and the son of Man.
What about today? Are things so different now? Many are still blinded by their earthly desires for wealth and power. The number who call themselves Christians is on the decline. We are called to live the life of love that Jesus taught us. When others look at us, what do they see? Do they see Christ? We must pick up our cross and bear it as a symbol of love and mercy. God the creator, Jesus our Savior, and the Holy Spirit working within us will give us everything we need to walk the walk of Jesus.
Let us go and make disciples of a world covered by darkness and filled with weary, hopeless people. Jesus is our light, and we are called to share that light with those in need, those who are hopeless, and those who are ready to hear the Good News. When others see us, they should know that “we are Christians by our love.”
Loving and Gracious God, Thank You for loving us. We want to be your children, but we are scared. We seem to be so few in number. How can we possibly change the world? Help us walk as Jesus taught us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: I can glorify God through my actions today.
Share the love! Pastor Liz
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