Ephesians 4 is one of those chapters that has so much content, and every reader is guaranteed to find something to work on. If you can live Ephesians 4 out perfectly, you are probably already in Heaven with your perfectly renewed mind and body!

It’s hard to serve people when we don’t really know them. It’s one thing to offer a meal to a homeless man, it’s another thing entirely to engage him in conversation and seek to understand his needs beyond food. But when we know someone, when we get to understand his or her plight, it becomes a whole lot easier to serve them.

If you had to take the concept of “Knowing God” and explain it practically, how would you do that? I don’t mean the theology behind salvation (which is important, but not for this particular post), I’m talking about the practical outflow of that salvation. What does it mean for my life, that I know God?

In the book of Zechariah, God is laying out a bunch of charges against the evil His children had been a part of. He was hitting them for idolatry, sexual perversions, violence, greed and whole a bunch of other sins. Things had not been well in Israel.

However, part way through chapter seven, He turns it around and starts talking about what He does want to see. And in 7:10, God gives a top-5 list of characteristics that should represent His children:

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’”

It’s interesting that God didn’t say, “Obey the 10 commandments” although He certainly want His children to do that. Instead, He gave them 5 action steps that would bring His own heart joy; five actions God wants from His followers that He asks for in Scripture from Genesis to Revelation! Think about these five action steps:

1. Show true justice (don’t let your decisions be tainted by money, social status or personal gain)

2. Show mercy to people; remember the mercy God has given you and be willing to give the same to others

3. Be compassionate; God has compassion on you so that you will have compassion on others

4. Be kind to the hurting

5. Think the best of each other

How can you intentionally put one (or more!) of those five actions into practice today? Here are a few thoughts on how to do that:

Justice

Could you fight for justice for those who are powerless? Could you advocate for someone who cannot advocate for themselves? Maybe for the unborn? Maybe for the homeless? Maybe for the disabled?

Mercy

So many people in this world live hard lives because no one has ever shown them mercy. Mercy is withholding punishment to someone who deserves it. The prisoner who deserves to be alone; the child who deserves punishment; the boss who deserves snide comments. So, Could you visit someone in prison today? Could you deal with your children in mercy today? Could you support your boss or teacher even if they haven’t earned the right?

Compassion

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 reminds us that God gives us compassion and comfort so that we might offer the same to others. Could you have compassion on a homeless man or woman today? Could you show compassion for a hurting neighbor? Our city is under heavy floods today, and there are city-workers and volunteers who are showing awesome compassion by working tirelessly for others’ safety and protection — could you share in something like that? Could you sort clothes at a homeless shelter or visit with children? Could you support a child through Compassion International (or someone other child-supporting agency)?

Be kind to the hurting

How could you put love in action for someone in your life today? Could you visit with a widow or widower? Could you take someone out to lunch who normally wouldn’t/couldn’t go? Is there a way you could support a grieving friend, family or church member? Who in your life is walking through some tough times, could you call and just listen?

Think the best

1 Corinthians 13 tells us all about love, and one of the qualities of love is this: Love always thinks the best. In other words, love assumes the best in what others say and do, not the worst. How could you apply that today? Maybe your boss is being a jerk, but you could assume the best — you might find out she is going through an incredibly difficult time in her life. Maybe you think your friends’ snide facebook update was directed right at you? Possibly you heard two co-workers or friends or church-members talking and thought it was about you? Choose to think best of those people regardless of what circumstances reveal, choose to think the best in others.

Make an effort to please God today by putting just ONE of those 5 actions steps into practice in your life today!

When’s the last time your heart was moved by God? How did you respond? Did you act on that feeling or leading by His Spirit? Did you ignore HIm? Think about how you felt when He moved — did you go anywhere with it?

Choose your own adventure

How many people will you pass by today? We all have pretty busy lives and schedules and often that can become an excuse — at least for me — to not take a moment to just care about the people I walk past each day. If I would just take a moment to say hi, to stop and offer a hand, to sit down and ask how they’re doing (and actually listen to their response!) I’d probably be shocked at what I’d learn.

Check out the video to this Brandon Heath Song…it’s all about taking a moment to stop and see people the way God does:

I love the Brandon Heath song, “Give me your Eyes” and Josh Wilson’s song, “I Refuse” that both speak of the need for Christians to see people the way God does, and then to do something about it! Too many believers live in the comfort of their homes and church walls missing the incredible opportunities God has given us every day at work, school, in our neighborhoods or on our clubs and sports teams.

Too often, we’re like this:

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” — Galatians 6:2

God loves aliens.

Legal or illegal, God loves aliens.

Sometimes when we think about the Apostle Paul, we think about the Type-A, driven preacher.  The church planter.  The at times controversial and pushy leader of the New Testament church.  We think of him being strong in his leadership, stern with his directions for the church and very clear about the ways he expected conflict to be handled.  He was an amazing leader and as such seemed to often be in the midst of conflict with the other Apostles (Peter), the other missionaries (John Mark) and people in the churches he worked with.  Clearly God blessed him as the founder of the church to the Gentiles — his leadership is unquestioned.

Yet in all of that, it’s not often we think of Paul as a people person — Someone who really connected with, and loved, people.

But he was.

The next 10 days are about the Tensions in life. The tension between the desire for purity and the dirty places we find ourselves in. The tension between sacrifice and pleasure. The tension between dreams and reality. The tension between the Kingdom life and the earthly life. These are a few of the tensions we are going to explore. What it comes down to is this: We want you to live an unbalanced life. We want God to tip the scales in such a way that the life He calls us to entices us more than the lust of flesh. 

 

This series will be 10 days of learning, stretching, growing and seeking God more. We want to walk with you through this journey of sweet surrender. It is going to take work, sweat and sacrifice to go deeper so if you aren’t up for being challenged Tension isn’t for you. But if you want to be a part of a community that really wrestles with the Scriptures and seeks to be more and more like Jesus then join us for these next 10 days. 

 

Just like Progress the main focus will be Monday through Friday. The weekend will be light and reflective. So without further ado . . . 

 

Tension.

Lamentations 3:22-24

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;

therefore I will wait for him.”