Ephesians 3:14-21

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (NKJV)

We mentioned in our previous entry that Paul started a prayer for the Ephesians, interrupted himself for a discourse on the mystery of the gospel, then picked up again in verse 14 with that prayer. We’ll take a close look at Paul’s prayer today, which I have quoted from the New King James Version – we’ll see why in a few moments.

Paul begins with “For this reason”. What was the reason? To look back a bit, Paul had first reminded the Ephesians how they had been spirituall dead (2:1), then had been made alive together with Christ (2:5), and finally reconciled with each other (Jew and Gentile) as they were reconciled to God (2:14). This is the reason Paul now prays for them!

“I bow my knees” … Paul displays a deep reverence for God. He does not approach the throne of grace casually, nor take lightly the privilege he has been granted as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This should cause us to pause and reflect … how do our prayers reflect our reverence for the almighty Creator, or lack of reverence? Do I approach God with more respect than I would any world leader?

“from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” … Who is the “whom”? This is why I quoted the passage for today from the NKJV. This version includes the phrase “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”, which is not included in many modern translations, but is included in the original Greek. Its inclusion simply makes the meaning clear, that the whole family of God is now named in Christ Jesus. This was important to make clear, as the Jews of that day often considered themselves children of Abraham more than they did children of God.

Do you proudly and confidently proclaim yourself a Christian, a disciple of Christ Jesus? Names are important, because they serve as a “shortcut” to our primary identity. For the Christian, Jesus should always be our primary identity.

“to be strengthened” … Paul prays for strength for the Ephesian church, spiritual strength. He knows that is a primary need for all disciples of Christ Jesus. Paul was well aware of the truth that Peter wrote about in 1 Peter 5:8: “your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour”. The Ephesians needed spiritual strength, which only God can provide, to foil the schemes of Satan. Guess what? We do too!!

“through His Spirit” … God provides power to persevere and overpower Satan through His Holy Spirit. I will never have that power on my own. You won’t either. We can only persevere against Satan’s attempts to draw us away from God by seeking the spiritual strength He provides in prayer, as Paul does here.

“that Christ may dwell in your hearts” … This should be the goal of every Christian, to have Christ Jesus dwelling in our hearts. Only Jesus can provide the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Phil 4:7). Only by having Jesus dwelling in our hearts can we experience the joy of which Paul wrote to the Galatians. Only through Christ Jesus can we love everyone whom God brings to cross our paths.

“to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge” … We know that Jesus loves us — we learned to sing about that in preschool! But, do we really understand the extent of His love? Consider that He died in our place, to take upon Himself our sins, while we didn’t know Him! He planned and committed to this sacrifice before the human race was even created! He died for our sins while we were still mired deep in the mud-pit of sin (Romans 5:8). God designed and built us to be people who respond to being loved. We can’t help but respond to God with obedience and devotion, when we truly understand the extent of His love for us.

“able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” … Nothing is impossible for God! Why should we fear or worry when we know that God is on our side? Jesus promised that as His disciples, we would never want for those things we really need.

I am reminded of a poster my daughter made for me and hung in my office at home. In big, bold letters it asks “Dad, How big is God?”. It’s a wonderful reminder that no matter what problem or worry I’m struggling with, no matter how big the obstacle in life, God is always bigger!

Is that a question you need to occasionally ask yourself?

“to Him be glory” … What a beautiful ending to this prayer! It’s a great reminder that God richly deserves all the glory, all the honor, because He created us; He brought us into the body of Christ by His grace; He gives us spiritual strength to stand for Him against the Enemy; He gives us Christ Jesus in our hearts and the Spirit as our Guide; He loves us far beyond our ability to understand and appreciate; His power is always at work to provide for us, protect and preserve us. Indeed, to God be the glory, honor and praise!!!

How will you honor Him today?

Ephesians 2:4-7

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Take a moment to look back at the sorrow state in which we started: spiritually dead, going our own way and doing our own thing, with nothing to redeem or commend us, and no desire even for the spirit of God, no desire to be united with God.

But God …

Hallelujah! Praise Him forever! But God stepped in to save us, even when we didn’t realize we needed saving. Paul wrote in Romans 5:8: “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Even while we were dead in our trespasses (v. 5)

Why would God do that for us? Paul answers that very question in verse 4: God is “rich in mercy”, and because of His “great love” for us. Paul writes more of God’s mercy in Titus 3:4-5: “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit”

Not only is God merciful, but He loves us! “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Let’s take a look at what God has done for us because of His rich mercy and great love.

1. He has “made us alive together with Christ” … spiritually alive, although at the end of the age, we will be resurrected and made physically alive also. Note that we are made alive with Christ: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)</p>

2. He has “raised us up with him”, that is another way Paul is saying that God has made us alive together with Christ. In Paul’s day, they didn’t have laser printers with bold text and italics. Paul frequently emphasized his point by repeating it. Paul want us to know that our being (spiritually) raised up with Christ is a really big deal!

3. He has “seated us with him in the heavenly places” … your renewed spirit has a seat in the throne room … next to Jesus! God doesn’t look with disfavor upon the sinner, nor does he grudgingly chip out just a tiny bit of grace; He is overjoyed to save! Flip back to chapter 1 verses 7 and 8a: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us”

4. He has done all this in preparation for a magnificent future plan He has for us: “in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us”.

How shall we apply this? We have seen how our sin has completely and hopelessly cut of off from God, and how God, motivated by nothing but kindness, grace and love, stepped into human history in the form of Jesus to save us from ourselves, and has heaped rich spiritual blessings upon us already, only so that He can cover us with more spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms to come! I’ll borrow a phrase from Peter, and simply ask, in view of God’s rich mercy and abundant blessings, “what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness”?

Ephesians 2:1-3

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience — among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

In this second chapter of Paul’s letter to Ephesus, he first explains the miraculous transformation which has taken place in the hearts of believers in Christ Jesus, then explains how that transformation serves as a basis for unity within our mutual faith. Any transformation involves a pre-change state (verses 1-3) and a post-change state (verses 4-10). For the moment, we will examine only our spiritual state prior to God’s transformation of our souls, i.e., where we came from, lest this devotional become too long.

There’s an old story about a little boy who came home one day and asked his mother where he came from. His mother sat down with him and explained the whole birds-and-bees story, giving him an age-appropriate overview of conception and birth. When she finished, she asked him if he understood. He answered “Yes, I think I understand. My friend Tommy said he came from Chicago, and I just wanted to know where I came from.”

As Christians, it’s vital to have a true understanding of where we came from, so that we can appreciate the miraculous transformation God has wrought in our hearts, and respond to Him appropriately.

Paul begins by saying that we were “dead in the trespasses and sins”. Note that we weren’t just desperately ill, lying on death beds waiting for the doctor to arrive. We weren’t just drowning, with one hand reaching above the waves for the last time. We were fully dead and in the grave. We were dead bodies at the bottom of the sea. Not physically … we were still quite alive physically and active in our self-serving temporal lives … but we had no more spiritual capacity to reach out to God than a dead man has to reach out to the physician. We were “following the course of this world”, going with the flow. We most likely didn’t realize it at the time, but we were “following the prince of the power of the air” … Satan, the Deceiver, the Father of Lies. He is “the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience”. Interesting phrase, “sons of disobedience”. Anybody who’s had a 3-year-old boy want to argue with that one? I thought not!

“among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” It sounds pretty bad when Paul writes it like that! However, Paul is simply saying that we were following our natural inclinations, our inborn instincts. We were simply following the crowd, doing as the Romans do while in Rome. And THAT was the problem! The rest of the world was enjoying a leisurely stroll down the lane, enjoying the scent of lilac in the air and the sunshine on our faces, right off the edge of the cliff!! And we were just part of the crowd.

Gotta take a sneak peek ahead to verse 4: "But God … ". Perhaps the most hopeful words in the Bible! Tune in soon for the rest of the story!

Galatians 6:2-3

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

How many times have I heard verse 2 taken totally out of context, and applied strictly to bearing one another’s physical burdens, where the concluding application was “give more to the church.”! Not that it is a totally wrong application, but it is critically limited. We must read scripture in context!

Going back to the previous verse, we’re talking about a fellow believer caught up in a transgression. I don’t believe Paul changed his course of discussion quite so abruptly from one sentence to the next. We must meditate through these verses within the context of restoring such an erring believer to faithful obedience.

So, what does “bear one another’s burden” mean in this context? I’ll take some ideas from a real-life situation, without getting into identifying specific details. First of all, it means engaging in Spirit-led meaningful ways with the wayward believer, even when most others are turning away from him. No one was ever supported or corrected by shunning him/her at his/her depth of despair and sorrow!

“Bear one another’s burden” means taking on some of the emotional impact of the sin and the resulting consequences; hurting alongside the one who’s hurting. There are many appropriate times for dispassionate thought and discourse, but there are also appropriate times to “weep with those who weep” as Paul wrote to the Romans. (12:15). Speaking of context, this is the section of scripture in which Paul begins “Let love be genuine”, and goes on to give many practical applications of genuine love.

“Bear one another’s burden” means being generous with your time, spending time to listen to a brother or sister pour out his/her heart, working through what has led to the present distress. Take time to meet for breakfast, lunch, or coffee, without being in a rush to get on with your day.

“Bear one another’s burden” may very likely mean being transparent about your own struggles! No one wants to unburden themselves, to air out all the dirty laundry, to someone who puts on the false front of perfection or a lack of their own challenges and struggles. They need to know that you can relate, not just intellectually but at a heart level, to their own struggles.

“Bear one another’s burden” will occasionally mean picking up the tab. Meeting for a meal and picking up the check is another way of saying “I love you enough to sacrifice for you.” Let the burden of spiritual recovery become a bit lighter just because you were involved in a generously sacrificial way.

Another way to give yourself a heart check, to validate the genuiness of your love, is to evaluate how your feelings about yourself change when you’ve truly made a difference in another’s life. “If anyone thinks he is something …” Do you find yourself thinking “That friend is very blessed to have me in their life!”? If so, your love may be much less genuine than you thought it was.

Don’t “deceive yourself”! Compared to Jesus Christ, you are nothing! I am nothing! “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6, NIV) We must cultivate a constant spirit of humility, taking Christ Jesus as our pattern and our yardstick. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8)

What lessons shall we take from these verses? Here’s mine:

I will pray for God to continue to prepare me for use in His service, as He chooses.
I will pray for God to bring me together with people whom I may serve in His name, gently bearing their burdens as my own, whatever those burdens may be.
I will pray for humility to resist the temptation to become the hero of the story, always pointing people back to Christ Jesus, and His sacrificial love of us all.

What will you be praying for?

Galatians 6:1

“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”

There’s so much in chapter 6, I think I could write a book! We’ll confine ourselves at the moment to this one verse which, by itself, has quite a lot to say to us.

“if anyone is caught up in a transgression” Paul assumes here that we know one another well enough, that we are sufficiently integrated into each other’s lives, to know about such a transgression. I wonder how difficult a bar that is to cross in today’s world? I would expect my wife to know much about my weaknesses, and perhaps my children if they still lived with me, but friends? Do we, in this “modern” world have such close friends that we would know about a transgression in their lives?

I believe the lesson for me here is that I do need to be more transparent in my daily life with my closest friends, so God can use that to bring openness from some of them into my life. Not necessarily those whom I would have chosen to have such an open relationship, but those whom our Sovereign Lord would choose for me. I need these relationships with Christian brothers in my life; we all do. And yet, today’s world tends to discourage and make such relationships difficult. I need to be more intentional in creating and sustaining relationships.

“you who are spiritual” Not all of us have been appointed by God to be the ones to intervene when we perceive sin in someone’s life! It’s so easy to fall into the trap of taking a confrontation in the direction of “you didn’t follow the rules”, or “you let us down”, or even worse, “you let me down”! One whose heart has been transformed by the Spirit (see 5:22-23) won’t go there, but will rather approach a friend with compassion and a genuine desire to help, support and uplift, without judgement.

Lesson: when I perceive sin in a brother’s life, I must first examine myself. Am I being judgemental, or genuinely concerned for their spiritual condition? Am I the one whom God has prepared and positioned to step in and speak up? Am I motivated by the desire to be a spiritual “hero”, or by genuine and humble compassion?

“restore him in a spirit of gentleness” The attitute with which I approach a brother in sin makes all the difference. In most cases, that person needs no judgement … they’ve al ready judged themselves; they know they’re coming up short! They need compassion, kindness, encouragement, and a gentle re-direction back to the words of the Scripture. They don’t need my advice; they need God’s advice. They may only need a voice they can hear with their ears to speak God’s Word to them.

“Keep watch on yourself” We usually read this as “don’t fall into the temptation to join in the same sin”, and that’s certainly a good admonition, but I believe there’s more to gain in this phrase. I also need to keep watch on myself to never forget that our roles could so easily have been reversed. I may have been the one in need of restoration. If my efforts at restoration are successful, I need to watch that I never take pride in what I have done; it’s all God’s doing, not mine, and I should be thankful that He found me worthy to be used for His good purpose.

I wonder what Paul will have to teach me in verse 2?

Galatians 4:1-11

“So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” (v. 7)

In this section of Galatians 4, Paul contrasts the status of slaves to that of sons and heirs. Slaves simply are what they are, and have no hope of becoming otherwise, at least on their own. Sons, however, when the appropriate time comes, become heirs, and inherit both the father’s wealth and his privileges.

Paul asks the Galatians, having become sons of God and heirs of His great promises, why they would want to turn back to their former slavery?

Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34) Paul’s question applies to us as well. Having been enslaved to sin and freed from that slavery by God’s grace through Jesus Christ, why would we ever turn back to it?

It happens, though. Usually not permanently, but how often we temporarily turn aside from following Jesus for the fleeting enticement of sin. Why?

I believe that, in part, the problem is that we don’t really understand the full cost of our sins, because we didn’t pay that cost. Jesus paid it for us, and spared us from spiritual death and eternal separation from the Father.

Part of the problem may be that we don’t fully understand the magnitude and magnifigance of our inheritance. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee[d] of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.” (Eph 1:13-14)

The next time we’re tempted to turn aside for a moment, let’s pause to thank Jesus for paying the price of our sins for us, and to thank God for sealing us with His Holy Spirit, marking us as His possession and guaranteeing our full inheritance when we see Him in Heaven.

Galatians 2:11-14

“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?'”

I’ll admit it — when I first read this passage a few days ago, I was tempted to skip over it. After all, it relates a bit of history between Paul and Peter; good to know, but the whole Jew-Gentile thing is hardly an issue today. I thought there was more relevant material in the remainder of the chapter. (We’ll get there!)

Then I realized, these four verses are speaking to me, today!

First, when Paul met Peter in Antioch, he “opposed him”. The lesson here is in what Paul did NOT do. He did not keep his thoughts to himself. He did not just “let it go”. He did not grumble to his friends about Peter. He did not bad-mouth Peter to the churches as he traveled on. He opposed Peter, and told Peter publicly why he thought Peter was in the wrong. He did not take the easy way out.

How about me? What do I do when I see someone failing to live up to the blessing Christ has bestowed upon them? Do I speak up and attempt to set them straight? Or do I keep quiet and not make waves? What would Jesus have me to do?

The second lesson in this scripture is closely related to the first: When Paul opposed Peter, he “opposed him to his face“. Not behind his back. Not behind closed doors. Not to his friends, nor to Peter’s friends. He spoke directly to Peter, and explained to Peter his inconsistent behavior.

It’s not easy to speak up directly to the person with whom you disagree. It’s so much easier to speak about that person rather than to that person. The problem is, it is only by speaking directly to that person that anything positive and productive is accomplished. Jesus taught his disciples this principle in Matthew 18:15-17.

The third lesson I find in this passage is the issue that Paul took up with Peter: that of inconsistent behavior (hypocrisy). That’s not just a Jew vs. Gentile thing. Is my behavior the same when I’m in the office as it is when I’m in church? Do I speak to people the same way on my out-of-town work trip that I do on Sunday morning in worship?

It’s true that my usual work topics, databases and relational design, may not come up very often in my Sunday school class, but my choice of words should never vary. I need to be displaying the same respect for people at work, or in the shopping mall, as I do in the church.

I’ll close this meditation with another quote from Jesus: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

They (the “all people” of whom Jesus spoke) won’t know, if they don’t see that love in me.

Galatians 2:1-10

Paul continues his defense of his ministry

This section, which begins at verse 11 in the previous chapter, is Paul’s defense of his ministry. I have chosen not to write about that topic, as in current times, very few Christians actually dispute Paul’s authenticity or his authority. I do, however, want to “zoom in” on a side note in Paul’s writing which I believe has continuing significance for us today.

“to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, …” (v. 5, ESV)

The “them” Paul refers to here are the “false brothers” he described in verse 4. These false brothers were seeking to burden all Christians with the traditions and rituals of the Jewish faith. They were saying, in effect, "You must first be a righteous Jew, then and only then can you become a saved Christian. Fortunately, we don’t have much of a problem with such false teachers today. … Or do we???

No one has ever told me that I had to become a Jew first to be a Christian, but I have been told I’m not acceptable to Christ unless I wear a suit to church! How many teenagers have been told they can’t claim Christ and still have fun with their friends at a pool party?

It seems that the modern church is abounding with “rules” that Christians must follow out of tradition, or respect for their elders, which are supported nowhere in the Bible. Paul and his companions did not submit to the extra-Biblical rules which false teachers attempted to impose upon them; neither should we.

With this reading and meditation, here are the questions I’m asking myself …

Am I trying to be “more acceptable” to Christ, or to my church, or to certain individuals in my church, by submitting to “rules” which have no basis in inspired scripture?
Am I seeking to impose any such “rules” on others?
Am I thinking negativly about others who aren’t following the “rules” I hold them to in my mind, even if I’ve said nothing to them about these rules?
If I’ve answered “yes” to any of these questions, when will I repent and change my thoughts, words and actions?

Galatians 1:1-5

“Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead — and all the brothers who are with me, to the churches of Galatia:” (v. 1-2, ESV)

Paul makes the point within his greeting that no man, no earthly authority, had any part in appointing him and authorizing him to serve as an apostle. At the time Paul wrote the letter, some questioned his motives and/or his apostolic authority. Very few Christians today have the same questions. So, what does this greeting say to us today?

Although none of us are called to be apostles today, every one of us has a role to fulfill within the church, a role designed and appointed to us by God. “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, ESV) We must be careful that the role we accept and work is the role to which God has appointed us, and not the role to which we have appointed ourselves, or the role that has been appointed us by enthusiastic supporters.

God hasn’t prepared any of us to be omni-talented, taking on whatever comes at us. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 that we each have an individual role to play in service to the body of Christ. Not all the roles are as public-facing, and not all the roles are as well-known. We must not judge the importance of various roles within the church by man’s standards; that will skew our perception and our values.

This brings to mind a moment at my stepfather’s funeral. The pastor related how my stepfather had built and installed a very useful and frequently-used cabinet in the church basement. Until that moment, I never knew he had done that, and apparently most of the people at his church didn’t know it either. His work would continue to bless his church long after he had departed to Heaven, but apart from that mention at his funeral, very few there knew where it came from.

I pray that I will continue in Christ’s service, in the role to which He has appointed me and for which He has prepared and equipped me.

2 Corinthians 10:12

“But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.”

As previously noted, all of chapter 10 is a defense of Paul’s ministry. In seeking to find relevance in an argument over a 2000-year-old dispute, we’re focusing on a couple of key verses in this chapter; verses where we can find challenges and guidance for our own walk with Christ. Today’s verse is the second of those.

A few weeks ago, I had a significant disappointment at the doctor’s office. They weighed and measured me, and found I was about 20 pounds heavier than I thought I was, and about an inch and a half shorter than I know I’ve always been! I decided I didn’t like their standards of measurement.

Their weight scale had become more sensitive over the years. Their vertical measure had grown, leaving me to appear shorter in the comparison. I decided then and there that, instead of referring to myself as 65 inches tall, I would now be 165 centimeters tall. Same measure, but in centimeters it sounds better! Just like 104 kilograms sounds so much better than 230 pounds!

Don’t we do so much the same in our spiritual lives? It’s comforting (in a strictly humanistic way) to compare ourselves to neighbors and acquaintances whose lives are filled with more trouble, more dysfunction, and more sin than our own. We can always find someone to compare ourselves to who will make us look great in comparison, at least in our own eyes.

That’s not, however, how God measures us. He doesn’t see us through our own eyes, or measure our spirits in comparison to our neighbors. Instead, God measures us in comparison to His own matchless perfection. Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 5:48 “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

What a high standard! Is it even possible? Not according to Romans 3:10: “None is righteous, no, not one.” How can we possibly meet such a high standard?

Not on our own. Jesus has accomplished for us what we could never accomplish without Him. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

In this life, we won’t achieve perfection; Jesus’ disciples didn’t either. We will come much closer to it, however, if we first learn to measure our thoughts, words and actions as God Himself measures them; against the standard of His perfection. Having measured ourselves properly, we can then yield to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and walk ever more closely in step with our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.