Paul starts this chapter by telling Christians to give up their old ways of life because they died with Christ and rose again as new creations in Him. We should rid ourselves of what is worldly and look to what is from Heaven. The worldly things will lead to sin. Just look at what culture says today: sex will make you happy, but the Bible says that sex outside of marriage is sinful; you need to make lots of money because money buys happiness, but the Bible says we should put God first and find our happiness in Him; and we should look at all of the hot girls/guys and talk about how passionately we would make love to them, but the Bible calls this lust and sinful. All of the things that God tells us to avoid from the world are for our benefit. Sex outside of marriage can lead to unwanted pregnancies or diseases, greed can lead to consumption in making more money and losing sight of family, God, and what is truly important, and lust can lead to unhealthy relationships and sexual sin. Before being saved, this is the kind of lives we lived, but we have found something infinitely better now, and because of that, we do not desire to live in the former ways but as new creations. Do not sin in your angry or grow angry in an unhealthy way. Do not lie to each other. You are a new person who wants to be like the creator, and He does not do these sorts of things. In the world of the saved, there are no Jews or Gentiles because we are all one in Christ and all children of God. No matter what the background, how we look, or who we were before. Paul moves on to give some examples of how the new Christians should live. The bottom line for the Christian life, as Jesus Himself said, is love. Love ties together all of the other aspects of Christian life. It leads to kindness, humility, patience, etc. Additionally, it leads to forgiveness. We are called to forgive others as God forgave us. As I have said before, God does not ask you to do anything that He did not do Himself. He forgave you of everything you have eer done and ever will do to hurt Him. How can you not forgive people for what they do to you? Sing to the Lord with all of your heart. Everything you do and say should reflect Jesus because you have taken on His name.
Paul gives a little advice to all sorts of people. Wives should place themselves in their husbands' authority because that's how Godly people live, but husbands should not treat their wives harshly but lovingly and with respect. Children should always obey their parents because that way of living pleases the Lord. Parents should not make their children resentful because that will only discourage them. Slaves should serve their worldly masters like they are serving their real master, Jesus. They should not have false motives but keep in mind that their inheritance is waiting in Heaven. All people should remember that the Lord doesn't play favorites based on worldly position. Just because someone is high and mighty on Earth does not mean they will have a better place or even necessarily a place in Heaven. Masters should be kind to their slaves because the masters also have a master in Heaven.
No comments:
Post a Comment