"No Longer Walk..."

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. Ephesians 4:17

The second verse of the second chapter of the letter to the saints in Ephesus, says that you were once dead in your sins in which you once walked following the course of this world. Yes, you were once following this world. You were a Gentile or one who lived according to his/her desires. You even once followed the prince of the power of the air. In other words, you were a follower, a disciple, a servant of Satan, the prince of this world! But this was before you learned Christ, before you put on the new man, before the Gospel totally transformed you by God's saving grace.

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. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:4-10

So now, Paul says, believers must live differently. Because of this great Gospel, we should no longer walk in the same way. As a result, our lives should be changed; we will undergo a total transformation following our conversion. After being saved out of our rebellion, there should be a drastic difference between a believer’s walk and an unbeliever’s walk. How are our lives or our existences distinct from unbelievers?

Questions to ponder: How does this affect what I do? Do I still walk in the course of this world? Am I still grabbing the old man and putting it back on? Has my life been totally transformed? What about what I do? Does it seek to carry out the desires of the flesh? Do I wear the same clothes the world does? Do have the same worries that the world does? Do I participate in the same relationships the world does? Watch the same movies? Go the same places? Do I have the same reactions? Am I the same?

Paul says we must no longer walk as those who are ignorant of Christ do. Let us draw near to Jesus, and follow him instead of this world.

Posts on Ephesians

Since I have not posted in a few months and since I have renewed desire to post, I decided to post a series. A series on the book of Ephesians. Meaning over the next few weeks I am planning on posting several notes, quotes, and thoughts on the book of Ephesians. Specifically, I will be focusing on chapter 4:17-32. As I am looking forward to giving a series of short messages from this passage this semester, I wanted another avenue to share my meditations, and so this blog is that avenue. My prayer is that these posts will be challenging, enlightening, and encouraging.

The focus of the Shared Items will also be the book of Ephesians.