Walk Worthy

Today I have been reading Ephesians 4 which starts by encouraging us to 'walk in a manner worthy of the calling', and then lists several things that this incorporates. I noticed how each personal quality builds on the previous one. So, if we are to 'walk worthy', maybe we should consider each quality, what they mean for us and what is God showing us to work on in our lives? Where is God stretching us right now?

So, lets look at the personal qualities mentioned in this passage.

First off we have, Humility - a virtue by which a person knows themselves as they truly are. Often we can think of humility as considering ourselves as lesser than others. But this is not in the sense of putting yourself down or considering yourself lower than anyone/everyone else. It's a fair, just judgement of yourself. You are even allowed to say what you're good at. Humility is also the ability to recognise where we struggle or where we lack. We are designed to work in conjunction with others so it's alright to admit our weaknesses too. 

I think everyone struggles with either of these two elements, we are either too hard on ourselves, or we think way too much of ourselves (pride). True humility is a balance, it's hard to get right, but we can get better. How can we work in unity with others, as it speaks about in the book of Ephesians, if we don't really know ourselves, beat ourselves up or are full of selfish pride?

Next up is; Gentleness. Mild mannered, soft, kind and sensitive. To be truly gentle, we need first to be humble. We will find it difficult to be truly gentle with others if we are harsh with or think too highly of ourselves. 

Gentleness means that we each need to manage our temper. Learn to control your anger, get rid of resentment and tame our tongues so we are not harsh. We need to overcome the fierceness of our nature in order to be gentle. Gentleness requires a meekness, a willingness to listen and love with an open heart in order to provide a place of safety for others. No harsh words or outbursts, but a soft and sensitive leading to the greater love that we know is available in God.

After gentleness we have patience. Ahhh, patience or having forbearance as it's sometimes called. To tolerate problems, delay and even suffering without becoming annoyed. 

ooohhhh, waiting - no one likes waiting, or problems or suffering, but it's necessary in order to 'walk worthy'.

In order to achieve this we have to overcome the fierceness of our nature to become gentle first. Then, with God's assistance we can gain some patience!

Why do we even need patience? Well, part of patience is waiting without complaint, and no-one likes a complainer (although we probably all know one!) In life we may have to wait for some things, we may have to suffer and we will have problems - so, how do you handle it? 

Do you ask God to get you out asap? Or do you look for the lessons we are learning?

James 1:2 says, 'count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have it's full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing'. 

Part of the christian life is the striving to become more like the perfect saviour that we know and love, Jesus. So, let us persue patience, because it matters. It declares something to the world about who we are. Faith may be tested, but what do you want to stand for and learn from those experiences? 

Bearing with one another in love. To do this effectively we need to be humble - laying aside ourselves, gentle - able to moderate ourselves, and full of patience - the ability to wait without anxiety or annoyance. 

Bearing with one another in love. Let's face it, we all make mistakes. We all at some point rub each other up the wrong way and stuff up. 

How do we get past that? 

Well, first thing we need to do is to look at ourselves, make a fair judgement of how we are, how we feel and deal with what's happening within us. Then we can approach others with an attitude of gentleness and patience. 

Learning to forgive and even overlook some things will be necessary. Watch how you speak about others, how do you talk about christians with different viewpoints or the person who lied or cheated you? 

Do you weigh them with the same scales as you weigh yourself? 

We all make mistakes, we all get things wrong, how would you like to be treated if you made the same mistakes?

Once we have understood and got these things, these wonderful qualities; humility, gentleness, patience and we are bearing one another in love, then we can maintain unity. 

WOW!

We can live in harmony with one another, but we need to get these things in place first. If this is something we truly desire, to live in peace with others in order to demonstrate God's glory, then we have work to do! 

Maybe you need to recognise and repent for some of the things you know are troubling you. 

God is available, He'll listen to you and forgive you. 

It may be that you need to go back and do this a few times, that's ok, God has unending patience - I know, He deals with me every day! 

Gradually, if you trust God to help you make some changes in order to succeed in these qualities, He will be faithful and you will see how your character develops. 

It may be that the things that really irritate you don't seem so bad after all, or you're able to manage the 'complainer' without feeling down. 

Others around you may not see a radical change, but you will feel it, and you will begin to understand what it is to have peace. 

The Church

Reading through Ephesians 2 and 3, I have been struck by the descriptions of what the church is.

Ephesians 2:21 states, 'the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple to the Lord'.

The church is a living, breathing, developing entity. It comprises of different sections, us. 

We are 'joined together'. We are meant to fit, so we should make efforts to align ourselves with one another, otherwise the building isn't going to be pretty!

 It'll just be a heap, a pile of stones. 

There is something unique and special about christians standing in unity. We are all individual, moulded from the same image, but created different, yet we are called to join together with each other. 

Why?

To, 'grow into a holy temple to the Lord'.

So, uniting together causes us to grow. 

We develop when we align ourselves with others of the same faith. It won't always be easy and will, in fact, be quite challenging, but if you recall growing up as a kid, that was quite challenging at times! 

But, if we don't grow and develop, we don't mature, and we cannot do as many things. 

The goal here, is to become a 'holy temple to the Lord'. 

Working together to achieve a dwelling place for the Lord God Almighty sounds like a pretty cool thing to want to achieve! 

Verse 22 goes on to say that we are, 'being built together'. It's a continual process, organic, moving and increasing. This takes work, some from our side, but also from God's, He works alongside us to build us together in unity. 

Reading through the next chapter, Ephesians 3 and verse 10, Paul relays that, 'through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places'.

You what?!?!

Yes, the Bible tells us that through the church, we are revealing something of God's marvellous wisdom to those in heaven! That's pretty spectacular! 

We, us; mere, mortal, mammals have responsibility to work together and display the wisdom of God! and not just to one another or those who do not yet know Christ, but to heavenly beings! 

That sounds crazy..........It also sounds kinda scary........

Our actions, inactions and words have far reaching consequences, further than we can comprehend. How we decide to use what we have as a part of the temple of God can have repercussions in the heavenly realms as well as here on Earth.

We have great responsibility, no matter our different viewpoints as; people, churches or denominations, we should all be Christ-centric, and this is where our unity can build from. 

There are undoubtably people in each fellowship that you would prefer not to be around, but God has called the 'WHOLE structure' to be joined together, to grow, to build and develop in order to demonstrate His wisdom.

So, let us be wise, let us choose to love one another, align ourselves with each other and demonstrate not only God's great love and mercy to the world, but also His great, magnificent wisdom to those heavenly realms.

Am I 'good'?

I know it's easy to think we're 'good', doing alright most of the time. We can be having a good day, behaving ourselves, managing quite well. Then we can end up putting God on the backburner as we're doing ok.

Today, I have been caused to think again as I read this verse;

'For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them' Ephesians 2:10

This verse explains how we have been hand-crafted, not at creation, but our re-creation when we believe. It states that we are; 'created in Christ'. 

So, we had to be re-made. This remodelling was so that we could complete 'good works'. We are only inherently good because God came and changed us. He chose to make us afresh and adjust our being so that we could become good and righteous. This is emphasised as Paul recognises that God 'prepared beforehand' these good works. 

God chose to use us before we recognised Him, before we believed in Him, and before we turned to Him. 

It is because of God's re-creation within us that our hearts and minds change, it's because He chose to develop each and everyone of us into 'good' people that we can have days when we think we're doing alright.

I know it's easy to get complacent, easy to take God for granted, that's why He has reminds us why we are the way we are, because of His grace. God has decided to restore my default setting to 'good' because I trust and believe in Him for my salvation, and deisre to live life God's way. He has taken away, wiped out and destroyed our previous settings, whether it be; 'bad', 'sinner' or 'worthless'.

We are, each and everyone of us; designed, developed and decorated by God. He has put HIs seal on us, His stamp of approval, AND he has important things for us to achieve - otherwise why would He bother preparing them beforehand? 

So, am I good? 

Indeed I am, as God has made me so!

'Whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out His special favour on me - and not without results. For I have worked harder than all the apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by His grace.' 1 Corinthians 15:1

'by grace you have been saved'

This saying is from the book of Ephesians, and is possibly one of the most common, trip off the tongue sayings a christian uses.

But, what does it actually mean? I'm not going to get very far as i'm struck by the second word, 'grace', it's a common word and concept used by those of faith, so surely we all know what it means right?

Well, we probably do, but we take it for granted.

Looking at it today, I have been reminded that grace means that we are priveleged to receive God's indulgence, we get a free upgrade! He helps us upgrade our thinking, and our lives. He gives us totally free approbation, approval, acceptance - no fancy speeches needed from us, no piles of cash, no contract or hours, weeks, years of hard work to get it. 

God just gives.

His grace even means that we are commended! We are even given status!

Isn't that amazing? 

By grace.......          because of God's indulgence for those he loves and look to HIm, he allows us an upgraded life, free from the junk we've carried around, pick up and put on ourselves. 

We get so much, even when times are hard, try to remember that we have already been given so much. 

We are accepted, we are commended, we are loved and favoured by the most amazing man that has ever walked the planet!