I presented this devotion at the quarterly business meeting at King’s Grant Baptist Church in August 2022.
I’d like to look at Ephesians 4:17-20.
So I say this, and affirm in the Lord, that you are to no longer walk just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their minds, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,
We recognize that we are transformed people, having been changed from what we used to be. Paul gives us some admonishment by saying… you did not learn Christ in this way.
Words of kindness, words of hope, words of encouragement, words of support, words of challenge, words that are going to build up the body of Christ; those are the things that the body of Christ is supposed to embrace.
So, Paul is basically saying, let us behave as those who have Jesus Christ living inside of us.
Imagine the church being fully devoted to what Jesus Christ wants to do through us, his church. How did we learn of Christ? We learned of Christ by faith, and when we came to him in faith, we learn to become obedient. We learned how to be an example of Jesus Christ. Being an example does not point to us at all, but it points to Jesus who is abiding in us, taken up residence inside of us.
Let Jesus shine.