Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

Just a few weeks ago, we planted some small tomatoe plants. Now here is the result – the harvest is outstanding!  We do enjoy the simplicity of tending tomatoes.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Ephesians 5:21

I am not an authentic “submitter.”  I do not like to submit.  I like to take charge!  I want everyone to line up behind me.  I want others to submit to me.  I certainly do not look around to see whom I want to submit to.  Does that make me the problem?  According to the Holy Spirit of God, it does.

Why, I ask, should I submit?  The answer is as simple as it is disturbing – Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.  By submitting I am revering or worshiping Christ.  That thought is difficult for me to grasp. Then I see – submit to one another.  I think I have convinced myself that I must submit to Christ.  That makes sense because he is my Savior.  But to submit to ordinary people who are seeking to follow Christ like me – now, that is a different story!

If I hear the voice of the Spirit, it is that by submitting to others, I am submitting to Christ.

I leave at that.  Paul did not say, “When you feel like it.”  No, even when it hurts.  I am a student in the school of grace.  Teach me, Lord, to submit to you and to others.

Everything here for reproduction, except an insect to get in there.  Maybe that is why it is a “glad.”  This is one of my favorite summer flowers.  We have several kinds.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:15 – 20

We have been cleansed by the blood of Christ, made new in the Spirit, now we hear, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise.”  I am not sure what Paul means by the words, “making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”  He certainly is warning against being allured by the world’s attractions, those pulls and tugs that lead to compromise.

When cultures turn to alcoholic beverages to help people avoid the problems and challenges of life, that is a road that leads to despair.  Paul wrote, Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.  I seldom see or hear this word, debauchery.  It implies giving oneself to selfish desires, a path to evil.

Paul assumes that we all give our lives to something or somebody.  He wrote, instead of being filled with selfishness, be filled with the Spirit.  Being filled with any other passion will lead to disaster.  He then describes life in the Spirit.  Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

At first this sounds unreal.  Paul wrote, when temptation comes to elevate the self and pamper it, the last thing that comes to mind is to shift gears and sing, recite psalms, make music from your heart to the Lord, but that is exactly the way of the followers of Jesus Christ.  The singing, praising God from the heart, offering up constant thanksgiving is the way.

It seems to me that life brings wave after wave of temptations to trust in self as we once did.  Not only should we set our eyes once again on Jesus, but sing our hearts out for joy, giving our emotions, body and soul to Jesus over and over again.

Our sunflowers get up early, then, as with this blossom, wait for the full sun to shine.  We have had a few days of rain.  I am fond of sunflowers.  Ours just come up, obviously from the sunflower seeds in the bird food that we put out.

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.  It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Ephesians 5:8 – 14

Paul, once the strict follower of the Law by which he sought to please God and people, met Jesus and was changed beyond belief.  He who once hated Jesus became his ardent life-long follower.  The famous persecutor of the church became a beloved brother and teacher in that very church that he tried hard to eradicate. The changes that Paul experienced were dramatic.  He described it like once living in darkness, where you bump into things, etc., to living in the light in the Lord where things are seen much more clearly.

Now, Paul says, since we are children of the light, able to see things of the Spirit that were once dark to us (if understood at all) we should walk in that light, live as children of light.

Then in order to drive home his point Paul likens walking in the light to bearing fruit!  That is the fruit of goodness, righteousness and truth – that which pleases the Lord. 

For, Paul wrote, we know that everything exposed by the light becomes visible and everything that is illuminated becomes a light – no darkness at all.  We who are determined to follow the Lamb have nothing to hide.  Everything we think or do is there for all to see, not that it is always appreciated, but because it is the way of light.

Light loves light.  I need to remember that.  Darkness does not like light!

Our trumpet vine near the swing keeps producing blossoms that one must just stop and admire.  As my mother used to say, “My, my, my!”

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Ephesians 5:3 –5

I would have thought, “Lower the standard of behavior so that more may feel comfortable in the Body of Christ.”  The truth is just the opposite, those who follow the Lamb of God live lives of purity and godliness, not like their former selves.  Immoral living has no place in the Body of Christ.

Listen!  There must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.  Is there a higher standard? No. We believers are held to the highest standard of moral and spiritual behavior.

Think about it. No sexual immorality.  No impurity of any kind. No greed for what others might have but not me.  No obscenities among us believers but absolute purity.  No foolish talk that benefits no one.  No coarse joking which hurts not only the teller but the hearers.  It lowers the standard of purity.  These belong to the former life, not to the new one in Christ Jesus.

Choose, instead, to turn the heart to thanksgiving and praise for God’s saving grace.

Paul is aware of the temptation to use freedom to elevate sin, not righteousness.

He proceeds to get even more insistent – No immoral, impure or greedy person – such a person is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  Few things displease God more than immorality, impurity and greed.  We might hold to excellent principles of doctrine, but live immoral lives.  That is poison, to be sure.

Who would give up eternal inheritance for immediate gratification?  Unfortunately, the history of Gods people highlight this pull and tug of impurity.

This grandfather’s clock has served me well these several years but I built it for Alan.  Now I am dismantling it for transport to his place.  The guitar-like thing is the top of the pendulum.  I find that no matter how elaborate the case, the clock itself with all its parts, is not all that large.  Here are the works!  Total.

 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Ephesians 5:1, 2

My tendency is to press my point and keep pressing it until I win!  Love has nothing to do with it, I say. It is a matter of truth or falsehood.  Shape up and obey!  Ouch!

Paul speaks an entirely different language, “Walk,” he says “in the way of love.”  Love does not mean that the truth is diminished, it means that we approach every relationship, as children of God, with open-hearted love, willing to forbear, to listen, to assist, to intercede, to help carry the burden.  That is the way of love.  It describes the love that drove Jesus Christ as he loved us and (can it be?) gave himself up for us.  Grace beyond degree.

He held nothing against those who come to him pleading the cleansing Blood of Jesus Christ. That is the very reason Jesus gave his life on the Cross.  His death was the supreme act of love, not retaliation or judgment or hate, the human ways of protecting ourselves.  Rather, poured out love!

Now, reader, Paul encourages us to love as Christ loved and continues to love, by giving ourselves up to him.  This means giving ourselves up like he did. So, instead of standing judging everyone according to my view, I love instead of pointing the finger.  For those, like me, lack that kind of divine love, the love of God that is in us because he dwells there, a love that is a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  That is the way we should interact with all, in love.  Instead of fumes of hate, the fragrance of the sacrifice fills the life and the sacrifice to God has done its work.

Once again, what looks, at first, easy to do, is impossible without the Spirit of the Lord making it possible.  Our walk is a miracle indeed, wrought every day, by the Lord.