Trinity 19 weekly meditation

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