I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ephesians 4-6

Paul continues discussing the unity those who follow Christ should seek and experience.  He goes on to explain how we can truly enter into that unity and avoid the divisiveness which the world is constantly trying to inject into Christ’s Body.  He begins by pointing out that Christ has only one Body, and the Spirit which binds it together is One being.  Christ has given the Church, His Body, apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers for the purpose of building us up in unity, knowledge, and faith.  As we are built up in Christ, we will become more mature.  That maturity will lead us to avoid living in lust and deception.

That transition happens when we allow God’s Spirit to transform our thoughts and attitudes.  I find it interesting that even though Paul wrote of the destructiveness of lust and immorality, he starts the list of behaviors which we must allow to be transformed by telling us that we must stop lying to our neighbors.  He follows that immediately by telling us not to allow anger to control us.  If we allow anger to control us, we will sin.  It is only after reviewing several other behaviors that Paul comes back to reminding us that sexual immorality, impurity, and greed will create division in the Church. We must carefully examine our lives and do what please God, rather than allowing those things to fester within us.  Our human tendency is to attempt to rule over each other.  We must resist that tendency and allow God’s Spirit to transform us into those who submit to one another out of service to Christ.  Above all, we must recognize that our enemies are not human foes.  In fact, humans are never the enemies of those who serve the Lord.  Rather, the enemies of those who are members of Christ’s Body are the unseen rulers and spirits of this world.  They cannot be defeated using human weapons and methods.