Greetings in the Name of Christ
Jesus our Lord!
Yesterday's Epistle was Ephesians 4:23-28, and in
particular verse 28 which reads: "Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let
him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something
to share with anyone in need."
One of the wonderful truths that is often
overlooked is this: A Christian lives his life not for his own benefit, but for
the benefit of his neighbors. I think this little verse sums this up quite
well. I mean, think about this -- Paul writes this letter to the Church and
includes an admonition to... theives? Well, yes. The Church is not a
collection of those who are perfect in themselves, but sinners who have been
brought to repentance and desires Christ's forgiveness. And what does that look
like - how the the rubber meet the road.
Hey thief - hey you who live off
of other people... now, go live *for* other people.
When it boils down
to it, as Christians we no longer view "the Law" merely as some sort of
checklist of things that we do -- it's not that there's a list of things that
Christians do and a list of things that we don't -- and if we still to the list
then we prove to other (and God) that we are good little boys and girls. No -
we are and remain sinners in this life - but in addition to being forgiven, we
now have a new approach -- we strive to live for others, to show them
love.
And what I love about this is that it's such a simple idea that is
so easily applied. What do I do in a situation? Simple - love my neighbor.
It's an idea that easily shows how and what we ought to do (even if our old
sinful flesh doesn't want to do this).
Of course, the example par
excellence of this is Jesus. And it is a great thing to remember when reading
the Gospels -- who for us men and for our salvation. When you read the Gospels,
everything that you see Jesus do, all of it is done for you, to win you
forgiveness and redemption, because you are the neighbor that He loves
perfectly.
We are forgiven -- this truth remains whatever we will see
this week, and so I say have a great week!
Pastor Brown
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