Getting it all Together

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Ephesians 5:1-2 says, “ Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;  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.”

     “Now the rubber meets the road,”  “The proof is in the pudding.”    “You can talk the walk, but can you walk the talk?”  These are all sayings that could have to do with the life of the believer.  I have heard all of them at one time or another and my life is filled with things that I would like to have accomplished or traits that I would like to have more strengthened then they are.    One of my nurses once referred to me as a very “gullible” person.  I guess I am an easy target for some and I get shot at and hit a lot.  I would like to say that I look for the good in people and not the bad and that’s why I get taken advantage of.  I guess I am just gullible.

     The above passage is in the middle of the last three chapter of Ephesians, where one probably could spend their whole lives working on the instructions that Paul has given to us through the inspiration of God.  There are some residents with whom I get angry now and then and after a short time, I have to go and apologize to them even though they don’t remember me being angry with them in the first place.  Then, in five minutes, they forgot about my apology about the thing they don’t remember, but I do it anyway and they very graciously accept my apology.  So, I try to not let the sun go down on my wrath, but keep a short list of things I need to get corrected.  Then, there is the kindness issue and the forgiveness issue and then to try to walk in love at all times and oh, yes, trying at the same time not to grieve the Holy Spirit and not walking as the unbelievers walk but to walk in such a way that honors all of the blessings in the first three chapters.  Then there is the issue of the words that come out of your mouth.  Are they edifying?  Are they truth or are you telling lies?  Even though we know we will not get it all accomplished on this side of heaven, we still try to do so.  God has given us the instruction manual and we need to take heed to what it says.  Some pastors mention the fact that the Christian life is not like a cafeteria line where you can pick and choose what you will do and what you will not do.  It  was mentioned once that treasury agents look at the real money and not those that are counterfeit.    In  the same regard for the Bible, we look to our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ  and pattern our lives after His.  That way, we won’t go wrong.  Praise God today for His commands to us in all of the Bible.