EphesiansSample

I love exploring new places – restaurants, museums, parks, theaters, zoos – anywhere that I can have a fun experience or learn something new! One thing that’s common to find at all these places is a list of “dos and don’ts” for how to behave in that space. For example, you can bring in your own food to a park or zoo, but not to a restaurant or a museum. In an art gallery, you can stand and look at an artwork for as long as you want, but you absolutely cannot touch it. These rules can be seen as unnecessary, but are usually in place for your benefit and protection, as well as for the people (or plants, animals, objects, etc.) around you. I would suggest that it's like that in the Kingdom of God as well.

Most of today’s passage focuses on what we should not do – things that people who are following God should not be doing. We need to understand that God gives us these "don’ts" not to spoil our fun, but for our good and to protect us and others from the consequences of sin. As you read through verses 3-5, you may have found an action listed that challenged you. As I read this passage, for me, what stood out was greed. During my study, I read a note that said, “The greedy want things more than they want God.” This completely expanded my definition of greed and made me realize how many times I put things above God.

But as much as I try, avoiding the "don’ts" is impossible if I’m not following God’s “do's”. This passage tells us in verses 1-2 what we should do – follow God’s example. We can grow in following God’s example by spending time with Him and with other people who follow Him. Now, I talked about the “don’ts” before the “do's” today, but I love that this passage is ordered the other way around. It reminds us to seek God first, and then, with God’s help, we can move toward eliminating sin from our lives.

Prayer Points

• Thank God for giving us His example to follow!
• Spend time reflecting and letting God speak to you about the things that challenged you in this passage, and repent if necessary.
• Ask God to show you how to follow His example more and more each day.