Good morning!
Text: Ephesians 4-6; Proverbs 24:1-22
These three chapters in Ephesians are a great synopsis of what the Christian life is to be. Notice that it begins not with our personal, individual lives, but with our fellowship together:
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3)
The foundation of our Christian life is life lived together with other Christians. One of the enemy’s best ways to defeat the advance of the Gospel is to divide the people in the church. We are all diverse, we will have differences, and we will annoy and upset one another. Whenever our “unity of the Spirit” is disrupted (and it will be), it is a call for immediate action. The word translated “eager” is about intense effort, all out commitment, and serious action to protect and preserve our unity. This is central to our mandate to “walk in a manner worthy”. That means that we prevent division by being humble and gentle with one another, patient, and we are to be all about “bearing with one another in love.” And, when division comes – and it will – those same virtues (humility, gentleness, patience and love) are ours to muster, lest the enemy have his wicked way.
in Him, Mike