Thursday 31/10/13

Ephesians 5:15-16 ASV

Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

We are to walk as children of the light, and also as wise. God gives wisdom. As children of God, we ought to ask wisdom from Him and learn from Him.

It's difficult to describe what's walking as wise. However, here Paul lists 2 aspects:

_ be carefully how we walk.
we ought to be mindful, think & evaluate our walk, not just walk mindlessly without consideration. We need to evaluate whether our walk is wise or unwise & according to God or not

_ redeeming the time:
We must not waste time, but make the best of it. Each minute wasted is one less minute to do useful things. One hour per day means 365 active hours per year, almost 30 days if we active 12 hours per day.

May God remind us, convict us and help us to follow His Word

Tuesday 29/10/13

Ephesians 5:11-12 ESV

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.

As the light has nothing to do with darkness but instead expose their shameful hidden things, we ought to do the same. We need to remember God is light, so we need to stand for the light whenever we are called.

As in the book of Job, we may be persecuted and suffer loss for righteousness' sake. But ultimately, what Satan can do to us must be according to God's permission. God is with us, and He controls our situation. As in Job, He can help us gain back what we have lost, and much more. It is always more profitable to accept persecution & loss for the light.

Not just that, suffering helps us learn valuable lessons in life. It develops in us patience, characters, the hate of sin and the love of righteousness, and experience the faithfulness of God.

Thursday 24/10/13

Ephesians 5:10 ESV

and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

As children of God, and as we call Jesus our Lord, we ought to know what is pleasing to Him. It's important & proper to know what is pleasing to our neighbors, to our bosses, so is to our Lord. Doing what please Him is our duty, our pleasure and our rewards, especially when we love Him. And if we please Him, He will bless us and give us joy and peace.

What is pleasing to God? As He told us in His Word, God is pleased when:
_ When we do His commandments
_ When we love each other and love our neighbors
_ When we pray, give thanks & worship Him
...
There are more in His Word. We ought to study, build up our list and be attentive to do them when opportunity arise.

Wednesday 23/10/13

Ephesians 5:8-9 ESV

for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),

Whatever darkness we are before, we are now light in the Lord. We are to be like the light. Light is bright & clear, pure & honest, productive & helpful, illuminating & ... Light brings all that are good & right & true. We are to walk as children of the light. Whatever good we find in the light, we are to mimic it.

Tuesday 22/10/13

Ephesians 5:5-7 ESV

For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous ( that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them;

Since the garden of Eden, the evil usually tempts us to sin by deceiving with empty words that sin is fun and trivial, sin rewards desirable things, sin has no consequences. However, we can be assured that sin and disobediences have consequences and will bring the wrath of God. Continue in sexual immorality, impure living, greed and covetous ... will bring God's wrath and will not get the inheritance from God. Just approving & partnering with them put us in danger. So we must fear God and shun evil, be assured of the consequences of disobediences, be afraid and stay away from them. Our willpower may not enough to overcome the flesh, we need to seek God's help in prayer to overcome devil's temptations.

Monday 21/10/13

Ephesians 5:4 ESV

Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

Many people enjoy dirty and crude jokes. However, a Christian must stay away from these, and instead be gracious and thankful. Whatever come out of a person's mouth is from the heart, and God will judge every idle words of men. Therefore, taming the tongue is taming the heart, and a gracious & thankful tongue signifies a similar heart, and that will save us from many evils and judgements.

Friday 18/10/13

Ephesians 5:3 ESV

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

Again, Paul reminded us to put off the old self and stay away from evil deeds. He categorized them into 3 classes:
_ sexual immorality: e.g. lust, adultery, fornication...
_ impurity: e.g. dishonesty, cheating, no integrity...
_ covetousness: e.g. greed, envy, jealous, steal, thief ...

And we must stay away from them in our heart, in our mind, not just in our actions. Nurturing evil thoughts is playing with the devil and keeping fire in our heart. Sin in the mind will find its way to manifest in the deed, eventually lead to death.

Thursday 17/10/13

Ephesians 5:1-2 ESV

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

As Christians, people of Christ, God's beloved children, our duty is to imitate God and Christ. To imitate Christ, we are to walk in love: kind, caring, patient, forbearant, humble, gracious. We imitate God by studying and practicing His Word. That's our duty before God and Christ.

Wednesday 15/10/13

Ephesians 4:32 ESV

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

After putting away our anger and bitterness, we are to put on kindness and forgiveness. This is not a should, it is a must. As God has forgiven us our sin, we are to forgive others similarly. This is not easy. The worldly thinking points us to take revenge so people will afraid to take advantage of us. And our flesh wants to strike back 7*7 times the hurt. They are sinful thinking. If God is like that, no one will live. If all men follow that principle, we will live in constant fear and anger from each other. It's only with forgiveness and kindness, even when being wronged, that we can live in peace and brotherly love.

Monday 13/10/13

Ephesians 4:31 ESV

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

This is a summary of what we need to put off:
_ the vengeful spirit: bitterness, wrath and anger
_ the unruly tongue: clamor and slander
Instead, we need to practice Godly love: patience and endurance, kind, forgiving and forbearance, willing to rejoice in repentance & in truth

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Friday 10/10/13

Ephesians 4:30 ESV

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

As we believe in God, repent and receive His salvation in Jesus Christ, God gives us the Holy Spirit to be our Counselor in all things, such as in learning His Word, in prayer, and in our steps in life. If we are counselling and people refuse to listen but continue in their errs, we grieve. In the same way, when the Holy Spirit gives guidance, He wants us to follow as His way is vastly superior than us. It's our duty and for our best that we need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's guidance and follow His advice. That will bring blessings from God and save us from many sorrows.

Wednesday 8/10/13

Ephesians 4:29 ESV

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Another concrete area to put off our old selves and put on our new selves is in our manner of talking. If our talking manner is corrupting, harsh, vulgar, cutting... we must put off that manner. In contrast, our words must be
_ building up: we need aim at helping the listener to grow in knowledge and spirit, rather than condemning and bringing down people.
_ fitting for the occasion: we need to be aware of the context and the mood of the conversation, rather than saying things out of context & out of mood.
_ give grace to those who hear: our words must be sweet and gracious, giving peace, rather than provoking anger and hurting ego.

Tuesday 8/10/13

Ephesians 4:28 ESV

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Another concrete area where we should work to put on our new selves is our work. We ought to labour honestly with our own hand. Labour honestly means not cheating, appear laboring but not. Labour honestly means delivering what is promised, not something different of worse quality. Labour honestly means not hiding back what we afraid our customers do not know.

The goal of our labour is not just for ourselves or our family. We must labour also for those who are in need and for the society around us. Therefore, we must labour hard and honestly for God.

Thursday 2/10/13

Ephesians 4:26 ESV

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

Another area where we need to put off the old self and put on the new self is managing our anger. Anger is not bad in itself, God and Jesus were angry many times in the Bible. However, letting anger cause us to sin is sin. God and Jesus when angry never act harshly, call down thunder or rain down fire and burning sulfur. Instead, God kept sending prophets to call people to repent, and Jesus continued healing the sick. In the same way, we can be angry, but do not sin, be patient and forbearance, continue to do good and call for repentance.

Furthermore, we must let our anger go as soon as possible, before the sun goes down. The longer we keep the fire of anger in our heart, the more likely we get burned. Anger helps us detect sin against us. However, it may tempt us to respond with sin, but we must not. We must let it go once it has done the job, and respond with grace and call for repentance.

Wednesday 1/10/13

Ephesians 4:27 ESV

and give no opportunity to the devil.

This short and often neglected instruction is actually our best defense against the devil. Fighting against temptation and shunning the devil may display heroic righteousness and faith, but the devil is likely too strong for our weak flesh and soul. The easiest and surest way is to stay away from him, giving him no opportunity to tempt us.

Jesus taught it's better to throw away our eyes or cut away our hands than our whole body going to hell. It maybe an extrapolation, or maybe not. But it's important to remove the clues or the tools to sin around us. Destroy that game DVD, don't hang out with that group or stay around that area. Their dangers are worse than their benefits. Give no opportunity to the devil is the best way to fight him.

Monday 30/9/13

Ephesians 4:25 ESV

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

Having exhorted us to put off the old self and put on the new self, Paul now gives us some concrete areas in our lives where we can work on.

The first area is honesty. We must put off any falsehood or lie, and put on truth and integrity. This is especially important in the church and in the neighborhood. As Christians, we are all members of the body of Christ - the church. For the body to function properly, all members must communicate the truth and be honest to one another. Similarly, for a close & peaceful neighborhood, each neighbor must be honest and true to one another.

However, honest and truth is not a ticket to be brute and inconsiderate. Our words must be gracious, seasoned with salt. Our corrections need to be in private, only involve the elders when necessary. We can be both honest, gracious and considerate at the same time.