God Speaks
Follow God’s example in everything you do just as a much loved child imitates his father. 2 Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, for Christ’s love for you was like sweet perfume to him.
3 Let there be no sex sin, impurity or greed among you. Let no one be able to accuse you of any such things. 4 Dirty stories, foul talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, remind each other of God’s goodness, and be thankful.
5 You can be sure of this: The Kingdom of Christ and of God will never belong to anyone who is impure or greedy, for a greedy person is really an idol worshiper—he loves and worships the good things of this life more than God. 6 Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the terrible wrath of God is upon all those who do them. 7 Don’t even associate with such people. 8 For though once your heart was full of darkness, now it is full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it! 9 Because of this light within you, you should do only what is good and right and true.
10 Learn as you go along what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless pleasures of evil and darkness, but instead, rebuke and expose them. 12 It would be shameful even to mention here those pleasures of darkness that the ungodly do. 13 But when you expose them, the light shines in upon their sin and shows it up, and when they see how wrong they really are, some of them may even become children of light! 14 That is why God says in the Scriptures, “Awake, O sleeper, and rise up from the dead; and Christ shall give you light.”
15-16 So be careful how you act; these are difficult days. Don’t be fools; be wise: make the most of every opportunity you have for doing good. 17 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to. 18 Don’t drink too much wine, for many evils lie along that path; be filled instead with the Holy Spirit and controlled by him.
19 Talk with each other much about the Lord, quoting psalms and hymns and singing sacred songs, making music in your hearts to the Lord. 20 Always give thanks for everything to our God and Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
21 Honor Christ by submitting to each other. 22 You wives must submit to your husbands’ leadership in the same way you submit to the Lord. 23 For a husband is in charge of his wife in the same way Christ is in charge of his body the Church. (He gave his very life to take care of it and be its Savior!) 24 So you wives must willingly obey your husbands in everything, just as the Church obeys Christ.
25 And you husbands, show the same kind of love to your wives as Christ showed to the Church when he died for her, 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God’s Word; 27 so that he could give her to himself as a glorious Church without a single spot or wrinkle or any other blemish, being holy and without a single fault. 28 That is how husbands should treat their wives, loving them as parts of themselves. For since a man and his wife are now one, a man is really doing himself a favor and loving himself when he loves his wife! 29-30 No one hates his own body but lovingly cares for it, just as Christ cares for his body the Church, of which we are parts.
31 (That the husband and wife are one body is proved by the Scripture, which says, “A man must leave his father and mother when he marries so that he can be perfectly joined to his wife, and the two shall be one.”) 32 I know this is hard to understand, but it is an illustration of the way we are parts of the body of Christ.
33 So again I say, a man must love his wife as a part of himself; and the wife must see to it that she deeply respects her husband—obeying, praising, and honoring him.
Source: The Living Bible: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: Since we have been adopted by the great God who created the universe and everything in it, and since Jesus paid the fine for our freedom by His blood and death, we should live in ways that imitate and please Him. We should stop “doing our own thing”–any kind of sexual sin, questionable practices, bullying or extortion, greedy grasping for more, filthy talk, course jokes, gossip, proud bragging, mocking, or putting people down. Instead, we should love and worship God for the good things He has given us in this life and in Heaven. God will deal severely with those who continue doing the evil things just mentioned, either in this life or in eternity apart from Him. We believers who are His loving and obedient children need to learn to do what pleases God. When we see evil and darkness taking place, we shouldn’t participate but rebuke and expose them. When these evil, sinful actions are brought out into God’s light, hopefully, some people will realize how wrong they are, turn around, and become children of light. May they truly wake up from the dead because Christ has given them light. Let’s not be fools, but be wise, taking every opportunity for doing good. Yielding to the control of the Holy Spirit, we should find out and do whatever the Lord wants. Singing hymns and praise songs helps. So does giving thanks to God and other people. We honor God by putting others’ interests and needs ahead of our own. This is especially true in marriage. Wives are to continually respect, support, and encourage their own husbands and look to them to make the final decision on things. Husbands are to love, cherish, provide for, and protect their wives. The relationship between Christ and His people is our perfect example. Christ died for us and now stands up for us before the Father. Christ is working to make us spotlessly clean, wrinkle-free, and beautiful, ready for our wedding to Himself. We are to be responsive and obedient to the Holy Spirit and anxiously awaiting Christ’s return.
Prayer: Dear Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. please help me overcome my old sin-loving nature that wants to do all those wicked things I used to do automatically. I was even fooled into thinking they were good for me. Take control of my inappropriate urges, my selfish attitudes, and my careless or hurtful words. Your Word tells me to consider myself dead to them. Help me learn and do whatever pleases You. Please expose the shameful, worthless pleasures of evil and darkness. Help as many people as possible awaken to see where they are wrong, to turn to the light of Christ, and to receive the cleansing and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Please help wives to yield to and respect their husbands. Help husbands to love themselves by loving their wives. May we all, regardless of our marital status, submit to Your will and imitate Christ Jesus, our Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, which one of these He wants you to work on or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will ask God to show me what sins have become automatic responses in my life and ask for Him to transform me.
- I will meet with a Christian counselor who can help me bring any hidden sin patterns out into the light of Christ and who can assist me in overcoming them.
- I will gather a personal collection of worship and praise songs that I can use when I am tempted to fall back into old patterns.
- I will find a way ______________ (be specific) to submit (or yield) to someone else for the glory of God, following Christ’s example.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.