Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ! For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, (Ephesians 4:17-5:1 NRSV)
When people look at you who do they see?
Are you saying one thing and acting another way?
Do you say you love God and give your money to your congregation, and pray to God to help people, but then on Monday turn around and talk trash about so and so for the way they are dressed, or talk down about the person walking the streets that looks like they haven’t bathed in weeks?
Simon in his revelation of who Jesus was said that the hearts of all would be revealed, that our inner most desires and motives would be made known. Jesus called the Pharisees white washed tombs, because they did all of the right things at the right time so they looked really good on the outside, but their motive were all about them selves… They did not truly care for the other.
We are to put away “bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander,” these things do not build up God and our relationships with His body, but work to tear it apart. “Together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted,” we need to lay aside our differences and be kind to each other. Not talking bad about someone because they dress in a way or look a way we do not think is acceptable. We do not know the circumstances of their lives and can not judge them. We need to be “forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” You see God did not ask you to dress a certain way or act a certain way before He loved you. He did not need for you to be perfect in order fro Him to come and die for you. He died for you when you were worthless and had done everything wrong, yet He still loved you. And He still loves you. He forgave you and made you a better person, one who can be a light to the nations and an imitator of Him.
therefore be imitators of Christ
aSacredRebel 