Showing posts with label life of love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life of love. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

True love imitates God


God loves you!
You’re a Child of God,
so take after your Heavenly Father.

Live in love
as Christ loved us
and gave His life for us,
sacrificially –
the purest possible incense
offered up to God.

Let your words rise
like perfume in the air
with no mention of
sexual exploits or gluttonous goals
or any inappropriate behavior!

You’re Beloved of God,
so it’s just not right to tell
dirty stories or talk trash!

Instead, use your words to lift
your thanks, thanks,
thanks, and more thanks
up to God.

Think about it, and you’ll know
that no one who lives to satiate
the world’s insatiable appetite
for sex and money
will find anything remotely like that
to inherit in the Kingdom of God
Christ gives.

Oh, please! Don’t let anyone fool you
with empty words or an empty life.

Such sins arouse only
the anger of God, Who gets irked
every time His kids don’t even try to obey
the loving way He gives us to live.

And, oh, please! Don’t partner up
with people who hide from God.
Maybe you once wanted
to sneak around in the dark, too,
but now the Lord has lit you,
live as children sparked with light!

Light causes goodness to grow –
and truth too, which always gains
God’s approval.

So think about things that please the Lord,
and shun useless works
that lurk in worthless places.

Expose shameful secrets for what they are
for light makes it easy to see and assess
the true nature of love and anything.

As the saying goes:

“Wake up, Sleepy-head!
Arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine
with you.”

© 2013, Mary Sayler, prayer-a-phrase, Ephesians 5:1-14
















Monday, January 21, 2013

Love builds the body of Christ


As diverse peoples get together, problems arise! Rarely do the difficulties come from hypocrisy or anything false or pretentious but, more likely, from differing ways of interpreting, communicating, and acting on biblical truths.

The early church dealt with this so often that the Epistles frequently speak of inspired ways to work through cultural clashes. However, in today’s reading from Ephesians, the Apostle Paul calls on Christians to do more than just get along. He calls on them (and us!) to love one another and see one another as a vital and gifted part of the Body of Christ – not only as God envisions us but as the Holy Spirit equips us to be.

Writing from prison Paul exhorts the Christians in Ephesus – and everywhere – to get God’s boundless vision of who we are in Him:

As the Lord’s own captive,
I beg you
to lead a life worthy of the calling
to which you have been called.

With all humility, gentleness,
and patience,
accept one another
in love,

doing everything you can
to keep united in the Spirit,
tied with bonds
of peace.

One body, one Spirit calls you
to one hope, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism,

one God and Father of all,
Who is above all and through all

and in all of you!

In Christ,
each of us has grace
in varying measure.

To some, Christ gave gifts
to be apostles, some prophets,
some the ability to go tell
the Good News, some to shepherd
or teach God’s people, but all
equipped to minister to others
and build up the Body of Christ

as we come us together
in the unity of faith
and knowledge of God’s Son –
maturing into the fullness of Christ.

No longer must we be children,
tossed about by personal preferences
or blown away by anything new!
Nor are we to be tricked
or scheme to get our way.

No! Speaking the truth in love,
we will grow up and into Christ,

the Head by Whom the whole
Body of The Anointed One
is joined and knitted together –

ligament by ligament
(person by person)

until each works well together
and helps the church body
to build strength
and grow strong in love.


© 2013, Mary Sayler, prayer-a-phrase of Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16. All rights reserved, but pass it on!

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What the Bible Says About Love - the book

God IS love. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible reveals the timeless, unchanging, ever-present love of God the Father, Son, and Holy S...