Ephesians 4-B A Change Coming

S =  Ephesians 4:17-20 “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!”

 

O = Paul saw that some in Ephesus who had previously professed faith in Christ were not becoming more like Christ, but had continued in their previous ways. He wrote that some needed a change of mind from one characterized by futility, a darkened understanding, and alienation from the life of God. How could this happen to them? He saw that their heart was hard and their choices were making them callous. Repeated practice of impurity can callous our heart so that it doesn’t challenge the futility of our mind with the good will of God's love. Paul makes it clear that they had not “learned Christ” this way. So how did we learn Christ? We were enlightened spiritually by the convicting influence of the Holy Spirit to sense God’s love and to see that we are not God, but that Jesus is. There comes a change of heart as we respond to Jesus’ love which brings a change of mind as we begin to see things as he does, then produces a change of clothes (v.22-24)—new desires, new values, new behavior that better expresses God’s love towards others (v.31-32).

 

A = Is there some way that my thought life is being drawn back to futility and darkness? Am I seeing the results in my life of some hardness or growing callousness in my heart? To what am I giving myself up today? This week I will cooperate with the Spirit and put on the new self (which Jesus has given to me)—starting with a new heart and a new mind that is readily visible to others.

 

P = O Lord, let me learn of you with a softened heart and an enlightened understanding. May you give me a strengthened settled resolve to resist the enemy rather than to give in to his lies! O Lord, conform me—by your love and grace—into the image of Christ so that I might walk/live well in your sight. Amen.