Stained Glass

Ephesians 5:1-5

Last month, I set out to memorize Colossians 3 on my facebook page.  I loved having it broken down into bite-sized pieces and taking it a bit at a time, chewing slowly, and thinking through some of the really cool word pictures there.  When I finished I wished that I would have blogged it, and I still may, but I’ve decided this month to memorize Ephesians chapter 5.  I’ll be blogging my progress and thoughts on it here, then sharing to my fb page.  Funny, the similarities between this chapter and the passage in Colossians…Almost like God is trying to cement some truths down, huh?

I find that blocks of 5-7 verses work best for my mind to take in and remember at a time…so that’s how I’m breaking these up. Funny, they seem to kind of flow in complete thoughts accordingly, at least this chapter.

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,

2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

3 But fornication and impurity of any kind, or greed, must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints.

4 Entirely out of place is obscene, silly, and vulgar talk; but instead, let there be thanksgiving.

5 Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure person, or one who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

I will never forget the real life example shared with me about this passage.  My good friend’s husband had contracted polio as a child and from then had developed a noticeable change in his gait…a very pronounced limp.  Their son, as a young boy developed this same limp when he walked…as he imitated his daddy.

If we are following Jesus closely, we are looking at how He walks, talks, and behaves, and we are instructed to imitate him; “walk this way!”  When we do this, we will be living (some translations actually say “walk”ing) in love as verse 2 says, as Christ loved us…giving himself up for us.  By doing so, he became a fragrant offering…a sacrifice to God.  If we are imitating Him, we’ll have that same scent on us.

All the yuck in vs 3 and 4, will not be associated with us, because we are not imitating that…we are imitating Christ.  Those qualities cannot co-exist with love and giving of thanks.  And just in case that wasn’t clear enough, we are specifically warned that fornicators, impure, greedy persons (and idolaters) will not share in any inheritance of Christ.  Again, they cannot co-exist with the qualities inside an imitator of Christ.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, and have your company as I commit this passage to memory.  Won’t you join me?