Commands

     It is probably a true statement to say that there are always people who are over you and who are giving you instructions to either do something or to stop doing something.  Parents do this a lot especially during the first 20 years of the lives of their children.  At least, that was the case in my life as I reflect back on my childhood.  One of the instructions given to me came in a letter from my mother in regard to my then recent induction into the U. S. Navy.  I wasn't too happy about my treatment by my superiors in boot camp.  It wasn't the most enjoyable experience for me, but one that was necessary.  My mother wrote to me and stated simply, "Grow up and be a man."  Wow!.  Mom had no sympathy for my predicament.  There are always those experiences in your life where someone is giving you a "command" to do something.  Parents did it and your supervisors did it and your teachers did it and now we come to the point where we realize  that God does it all the way through His Word.   Ephesians 4:31-32 says, " Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:   And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."  
     We can refer to these expressions as "commands" and God certainly gives us a lot of them throughout the Bible.  I often have remarked how there are no "imperatives" in the first three chapters of Ephesians but there are about 38 of them given in the last three chapters of the book.  The above passage is but one of the commands that have been given to us in the book for our practical living in this life.  These are times where you can't argue about the instruction.  As usual, we can't debate the issue whether it came from our parents, our boss, our professor and in this case, God Himself.  The response to an imperative, or a command, is quite clear.  You have to do it and if you don't do it, there will be repercussions either immediately or somewhere down the road.   You could spend your whole life just trying to do the imperatives that are in the Book of Ephesians, but the rest of the Epistles and in fact the whole Bible, continue with commands for us to do.  So, as many would say, this is a no brainer.  We have to do what God commands us to do.  They are not suggestions for the Christian life, but rather commands that have to be done.   Oh, and by the way, the one mentioned above, speaking about kindness and forgiveness is one of the hardest to do.  People hold grudges and fail to forgive others and the result is a bitter life.  Praise God today that he has given us a very complete list of things to do in the Christian life.