RESOURCES — SHORT ARTICLES

 

SHORT ARTICLES BY TOM ELSEROAD
	2021-02-10	What Does It Mean To Walk In Love (Ep.5:2)
		Eph 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. Eph 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Paul says we walk in love by imitating God just as Jesus did. Jesus offered His life in sacrifice to God. The “walk” Paul refers to our behavior and how we act. We walk in love when we act like God. When we behave like Jesus we are walking in love. As children like to imitate their parents, we are to mimic God in the same way Jesus copied His Father's behavior. The word “love” here comes from the Greek word agape. This is a sacrificial and unselfish love that demonstrates itself through actions. This describes God's love for us (Jn.3:16), and Christ's love for us (1Jn.3:16). This agape love shows how much God loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world to provide eternal life (1Jn.4:9). John says, “God is love” (1Jn.4:8), using the same word agape to reference God's nature, sacrificial, and unconditional love. John stressed that since God loves us sacrificially, we ought to love others in the same manner (1Jn.4:11). 1Jn 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. So we walk in love by imitating God's love for us in how we show love to others. Jesus taught the same principle when He said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends” (Jn.15:13). Paul gives a detailed description of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. 1Co 13:4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 1Co 13:5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 1Co 13:6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 1Co 13:7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. The greatest virtue we can nurture in our Christian walk is agape love (1Co.13:13). 1Co 13:13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. In Ephesians Paul said Jesus has, “given Himself for us” showing how we are to offer our lives to God in sacrifice. It means following, obeying, submitting, serving, and living in a committed relationship with Him. So giving ourselves means walking in love. When we walk like this our lives become, “a sweet-smelling aroma” that pleases the Lord (Le.1:17; 3:16). Paul further describes our Christian walk as a “living sacrifice” that is pleasing to God (Ro.12:1). When we walk in love, we show the world that we are true followers of Jesus Christ (Jn.13:35). Joh 13:35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." As God’s children and members of His family, we are called to deny our own selfish desires and interests for the sake of God and others. This wholehearted, sacrificial imitation of God’s divine agape is what it means to walk in love. Pastor Tom Elseroad

 

An Evangelical Free Church of America

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