Ephesians 5

​As a young person I didn’t know what love was. After my divorce, I wanted to know! I went on a quest to find out. I interviewed many pastors and asked them, “What is love?”. The response I liked most was: “Love is doing what is best for the other person”. It stuck with me.

Now, when I wake up each morning, before getting out of bed and into my day, I remind myself that the most important thing I can do today is love the people God places before me. Without love, everything else I do is just like a clanging (empty) symbol (See 1 Corinthians 13).  

Jesus emphasised that all the Laws given by God and the teachings of the prophets can be summarised into; Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbour as yourself. When we do these things, we naturally turn away from selfish living, greed, impurity, drunkenness, and foolishness, because these things aren’t what is best for God or others, or ourselves. These are the things that will be stripped away from believers lives as we walk in the way of love.

Our calling, as Ephesians chapter 5 reminds us, is to walk “in love,” be imitators of God and of Christ, who loved with a love beyond compare. Having Jesus Christ as both the ground and model of love (Eph 5:2), such self-sacrificial love is to be the mark of each of us; the “beloved” children of God (5:1).

Ephesians 5 reminds us that we are called to live holy, wise lives, full of the spirit, motivated by God’s love, as children of light (displaying goodness, righteousness and truth), while continually expressing gratefulness to God.

Is this the way you are living each day? Are you fulfilling your calling?
If not, please ask for the spirit’s enabling today, and speak to your pastors or the prayer team if you’d like extra prayer and support. We love you.

In Christ,

Reverend Tanya Cummings