Ephesians 5
Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us[a] and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.
3 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. 4 Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
6 Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. 7 Don’t participate in the things these people do. 8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
Lines, they blur so easily. Especially when you are overly focusing. Even the best laid plans slip right through your hands *cue cheesy music*. We can set our minds each day to walk the path less traveled and we say "Today I will not get distracted" only to stumble upon a shiny gold coin in which you thought "eh it's just a gold coin I can go off path for just that, and get right back on track" next thing you know you are 5 miles down the road in the wrong direction and you feel like instead of going back you will just see it out to the end and start over. Starting over never seems like the easy logical choice by then. Luckily it's easier than most of us think- if we don't "over focus."
I know I've been there. I know we all have. It's what we do after we get ourselves on these wrong roads that help us grow. Without growth, we stand still. We stand still we get idle hands. Devil loves some idle hands!
If we break these verses down and really listen to what is being said we realize this reaches us all. Obscene stories- foolish talk... we all become guilty of that without even realizing it half the time. Gossiping and telling stories on others, all of that to me falls under it. We all do it and we all say we hate it. It's a cycle. Well take that hamster off it's wheel and let's try to LET IT GO. Starts within us. When you hear a story about your neighbor, choose to NOT repeat it. You may can not stop it from spreading like wild fire, but you can make sure you don't throw fuel on that fire.
Don't be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins. A sin is a sin is a sin. There are no excuses and no excusing. We can't simply say well this person ONLY did this, but at least didn't do that and make out like it's all ok. In God's eyes it's all the same.
Me and Tj have been working daily towards the relationship we've always wanted and the relationship God wants for us. We have come a long way and every day feels like the first day. We both try our hardest to live by the words we read in his word. We pick our battles wisely. We compliment each other. We listen to each other. Things you never thought about b4, we think about them now. We take our light God has given us and we try our best to let it shine through us. Our kids I feel reap benefits from it as well because I see the lights in them shining brighter than ever.
Live a life filled with love, imitate God in everything, and let the light within you produce only what is good and right and true!
