Secure in Christ Wrap Up
We started our the first week in chapter one of Ephesians. Paul addresses this letter to the "saints" in Ephesus, and identifies himself as an apostle, which motivated me to learn about these words. I am so encouraged by Paul's statement that we were chosen in Christ before the beginning of the world (Ephesians 1:4). This taught me that no matter what I'm facing or how impossible it seems, God already has it worked out ! Continuing on, I explored the darkness of slavery to sin that I was trapped in before Jesus set me free. God went to all the trouble of putting together our path to freedom because He wants us on His Dream Team. But one thing i know for certain, there is SO MUCH I still don't know. I pray for myself, and for you, that we may know Him better.
The second week of our study focused on how we are alive by grace. I needed God's grace so much that I didn't even know I needed it. Then I went on to struggle with the idea that even the faith I had to accept Jesus was a gift of grace and I couldn't claim any credit for it. This grace just continues to build upon itself as God loops us (gentiles) into His Family. God's grace to us challenges us to extend that grace to others and live in unity. As we live together in this unity, we are being built up from our cornerstone, Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 3 went on to highlight and emphasize the importance of this unity in Christ. At the beginning of this chapter, Paul identifies himself as being a, "prisoner of Christ." After looking at it, I was able to identify with this distinction as well. Paul also saw himself as insignificant, of little value, but history sees him as one of the most influential apostles in history. I likened that to my perspective of being the "appendix" of the body of Christ, but it turns out that even an appendix plays a crucial role. I saw that, in this unity, I, like Paul, am suffering for you. In this unity, we pray for each other. Paul ends this chapter with a beautiful prayer, which God taught me more about through another one, the Serenity Prayer.
Reflecting Christ was the theme our study identified in chapter four, which I saw immediately in our first passage. Jesus calls us to reflect Him, and His love for others, in how we interact with the world - even when it hurts. This is embodied through the use of grace gifts that God gave each one of us, to build up the body of Christ. The third day of this week's study, God showed me a parallel between my walk with Him and a baby's learning to walk that was rather precious to my heart. Casting off the old self and putting on the new was likened in my heart to the importance, and blessing, of a cleansing shower and a fresh set of clothing after giving a haircut. One of the primary ways, and consequently one of the most important ways, we are to reflect Christ is through forgiveness. None of these things are easy, and we can all continue to grow in them.
Week five started off with a compelling challenge, to walk in the way of love as Jesus did. The next day's verse gave me pause as I considered what it meant that, to me, light doesn't always represent goodness. In verses 15 and 16 of this chapter, I was confronted with the reality that Paul wasn't speaking to me personally, but rather to the church as a whole when he says, "Be very careful, then, how you live." Ephesians 5 has always been for me the chapter on submission, and even though I've studied it countless times, this time, like the others, I learned something new. This continued on as I delved into the mystery of the association between the relationships of husband and wife and that of Christ and the church.
Much of the final week was written while I was on a cruise with my middle son, which I will tell you all about in a series of later posts. I actually wrote it all out on my phone, including most of this post 🤪. Where there's a will there's a way! This week we focused on the theme, "Standing Firm." Chapter 6 kicked off by teaching us about the importance of honoring your parents and I can't tell you how blessed I was by writing that post. The next day we challenged the idea that, "Anything worth doing is worth doing well." Looking into the concept of spiritual warfare was made so much clearer for me through wonderful works of fiction. As we learn about the armor that God has given us to fight this war, I'm typically drawn to break down the individual pieces, but this read through God impressed upon me the step that comes after putting on our armor, Standing. And finally, at the end of Ephesians Paul asks for prayer, and so do I.
Here's the Thing: This has been a really difficult study for me, which I did not expect. I barely finished it before the next study was supposed to begin (yesterday). Between travel, jet lag, and recuperation I haven't started the next one yet, but I'm hoping to today. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, we've had some truly devastating family circumstances that have both fed into my learning as well as making it difficult to find the time and energy to do it. I'm so glad that I stuck with it though and completed this study on Ephesians! I hope you got something out of it as well.
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