1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. (Ephesians 4:1-2, NIV)
In my weekly letter this week, we focused on the exhortation in Eph. 4:1: “[L]ive a life worthy of the calling you have received.” In this verse, our calling emerges from God’s saving, healing, renewing, life-giving work through Jesus Christ, that work which was revealed in the opening chapters of Ephesians. When we embrace what God has done through faith, we accept God’s calling to live in a whole new way for His purposes and glory. How should we start living out our calling? If I had been writing Ephesians – I am glad is not the case – I would have been inclined to start big. I would have issued some challenge to do grand things for Christ. I would have focused on bold preaching and justice seeking. Now, that’s one reason why we’re glad that Paul was writing this letter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, rather than my sharing my insufficient wisdom. Look where Paul starts immediately after telling the letter recipients to lead a life worthy of their calling. They’re to do this by being “completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” (v. 2) These things are not especially grand. They won’t get much attention from the world. They don’t appear at first glance to advance the kingdom of God very much. I mean, humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance are just fine. But they don’t exactly shake up the world. In fact, they seem like things that might easily be ignored or forgotten. Yet, Paul says this is where we ought to begin if we’re going to live out our calling. Why are these such primary priorities? First, humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance are essential characteristics of Jesus Christ. Jesus claimed to be “gentle and humble” (Matt. 11:29). Phil. 2 celebrates the fact that Jesus humbled Himself by becoming human and going to the cross. After calling the Ephesians to walk worthy of their calling, Paul could also have said, “Do this by imitating Jesus” (see 1 Cor. 4:16, 11:1). If you want to faithfully live out your calling, it’s never a bad idea to do as Jesus did. In fact, it’s a great place to start. Another reason Paul prioritizes humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance reflects his pastoral experience with his churches. He knows it is very easy for Christian communities not to get along. He is aware of the dangers of division and strife. He’s seen it happen far too often in his churches. But Paul isn’t merely wanting people to get along because it makes church life nicer. Unity among Christians is absolutely essential to our calling as God’s people. One of the things I love about Eph. 4:2 is its utter practicality and feasibility. We can start this very moment to work on humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance. Each day brings many opportunities to reflect one or more of these Christ-like characteristics. Why not begin doing so today? Help me, Lord, to imitate Jesus today. May I be truly humble both in my heart and in my actions. O Lord, help me to be like Jesus today! Comments are closed.
|
Archives
May 2024
Categories |