Skip to main content

Daily Devotion: Ephesians 5:1-2

By

Ephesians 5:1-2     "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;  (2)  And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour."

These verses present two thoughts to me this morning. The first one is the matter of the way we look, talk, and act as children of God.  We are to be followers of Jesus Christ. We are to "walk in love as Christ also hath loved." This may sound a bit judgmental, but as I go about town into various shops and stores, I see a group of people that look much alike. Their hair, tattoos, and piercings soon begin to fade together into one lump sum. It makes me wonder who set the stage for this "fashion" statement. If they want to look as individuals, why do they all look alike? We are to be imitators as we go from day to day, but there is One who is much higher than any earthly fashionista that we are to follow. His name is Jesus. We are to attempt to live our lives as Jesus is living through us. I don't want to be like any movie actor or sports person. I want to be like Jesus. That being said, I know I have much room to grow before I have accomplished my goal. In order to walk and be like Jesus, I must first know about Him and then I must strive to have a deeper relationship with Him as a Person. That comes through reading and studying God's Word and being in constant communication with Him, which brings me to my second thought.

We communicate with Him through prayer. We are told that we are to "... come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16) But then we are also told that it is "Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:9) So, if it is not of works, yet we are to come boldly... How is it that we can approach the throne of God's grace? We are to go with the understanding that our approach to God's throne is through "... Christ (who) also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour." There is nothing in and of ourselves that would present a "sweetsmelling savour" unto our Heavenly Father. Therefore, we cannot go boldly to Him by way of our actions; rather, we are to approach the throne through the precious name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We are accepted by God through Christ and only through Him. We pray in Jesus' name and His accomplishment, not our own. God hears us in our prayers for Christ's sake, not our own. I want to be a follower of God by showing Christ in me through my thoughts, words, and actions.

1 We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love—
for Jesus, who died, and is now gone above.

Refrain:
Hallelujah! Thine the glory! Hallelujah! Amen!
Hallelujah! Thine the glory! Revive us again.

3 All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain,
who has borne all our sins and has cleansed ev'ry stain. [Refrain]

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Daily Devotion: Psalm 88:1-4

By
Psalm 88:1-4  A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. "O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:  (2)  Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;  (3)  For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.  (4)  I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength" I've said this before and I will say it again (and probably more times before we get to the end of the Psalms) - I love the Psalms because I can surely identify with them. Most Psalms start in a low place and as the writer expresses his thoughts, the Lord begins to lift him up out of that dry place.  Though this entire Psalm is a fervent cry unto the Lord, the Psalmist tells us specifically in three verses that he cried daily unto the Lord. Just a few Psalms ago, we were reminded that God always hears our prayers. ...
Read more

Daily Devotion (Video): I Will Fear No Evil - Psalm 23:4

By
Read more

Daily Devotion: Knowing God By Bearing Fruit

By
Some will notice the title is not “Bearing fruit because we know God,” so to avoid getting sidetracked with that, we can start with the fact that we won’t bear any godly fruit unless our heart has been changed and the Holy Spirit dwells within us. Also, to avoid confusion, I’ll be using the terms “bearing fruit,” “good works” and “service” interchangeably.  I took this article’s title from Part 7, of John Piper’s “Look at the Book” session on Colossians 1:9-12. I greatly encourage you to view that short video to get his excellent exposition on this subject.  When I saw the title of the video earlier this year, I got kind of excited because that’s the direction my thinking has gone in the past several years. My thinking was founded Biblically with verses on good works like Matthew 5:16 – “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father, who is in heaven.” But I couldn’t expand it to expla...
Read more