The privilege we have to walk the new way
Is something we should not take for granted.
What we were once like is not how we should be
And we know, there’s grace in every future step.
Grace. Love. Peace. Mercy. And the such.
These are not just thoughtless words.
But actions and life styles. The way to “be.”
Think your life through. Does this describe you?
Turn the other cheek. Tune down the rhetoric.
Speak with the other person in mind.
Don’t be like others, that’s what Paul is saying.
Don’t think, talk, walk, or be… I’m just saying.
Paul has this right! We change our focus often.
Why? The first phrase I find myself focusing on?
You Should No Longer Walk as the rest of the Gentiles Walk.
Then, he tells us what that means.
Will you read and pray about this?
It was important then, and it is even more necessary now.
Don’t be a reader of the word…
We’re supposed to be doers. (James 1:23-25)
Ephesians 4:17-32 NKJV
Emphasis mine
This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord,
that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk,
in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God,
because of the ignorance that is in them,
because of the blindness of their heart; who,
being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness,
to work all uncleanness with greediness.
But you have not so learned Christ,
if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him,
as the truth is in Jesus:
that you put off, concerning your former conduct,
the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and that you put on the new man which was created according to God,
in true righteousness and holiness.
Therefore, putting away lying,
“LET EACH ONE OF YOU SPEAK TRUTH WITH HIS NEIGHBOR,”
{Zechariah 8:16,19]
for we are members of one another.
“BE ANGRY, AND DO NOT SIN”:
[Psalms 4:4]
do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
nor give place to the devil.
Let him who stole steal no longer,
but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good,
that he may have something to give him who has need.
Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth,
but what is good for necessary edification,
that it may impart grace to the hearers.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking
be put away from you, with all malice.
And be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
even as God in Christ forgave you.