9/30/12

Poisonous Problem


“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” Ephesians 4:31

In one sense bitterness can be said to be like cancer. It eats away at the person who is filled with it. It sucks the joy and love out of his soul. But cancer may not be the best analogy, because while cancer is not contagious, bitterness most certainly is.

The writer of Hebrews recognizes how bitterness moves rapidly from heart to heart when he writes, “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many” (Hebrews 12:15). The word used for “bitterness” is pikria, which can also mean “poison.” In the body of Christ, that is exactly what bitterness is. It poisons and defiles the whole body.

9/9/12

One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism


Ephesians 4:4-6
There is one body and one Spirit¾just as you were called to one hope when you were called¾5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

There is “one faith” (v5). This is not something disconnected from Jesus. When Paul wrote “one Lord, one faith, one baptism,” he was describing realities that always went together in his mind and in his message. The one faith is not “faith in faith.” It is not the virtue of just believing in something, like what you find described in various forms of spirituality today. 

9/2/12

No Tolerance for Pride


 “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” Ephesians 4:2

If anybody should understand how foolish pride is, it should be Christians. If we remember what we were like outside of Christ, if we remind ourselves about how far away from God we were and how enslaved we were by our own sin, we will know that we have no basis for pride and every reason to relate to others with humility.