Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
September 15, 2022
Read: Ephesians 4:1-13
1 Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God. 2 Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience. Accept each other with love, 3 and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. 4 You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all. 7 God has given his grace to each one of us measured out by the gift that is given by Christ. 8 That’s why scripture says, When he climbed up to the heights, he captured prisoners, and he gave gifts to people. 9 What does the phrase “he climbed up” mean if it doesn’t mean that he had first gone down into the lower regions, the earth? 10 The one who went down is the same one who climbed up above all the heavens so that he might fill everything. 11 He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. 12 His purpose was to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ 13 until we all reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. God’s goal is for us to become mature adults—to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ.
Good morning! In the stillness of the early morn, praise God!
As we shift into a new season, the days are slowly becoming shorter and the morning air is becoming cooler. I enjoy the noticeable difference in temperature as I step out in the predawn darkness. This morning it is clear and I see God’s majesty as I gaze at the sky above me. What a mighty God we serve!
Paul calls us to live as people worthy of the call that we have received from God. How do we do this? First, we should love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and we should love our neighbors as ourselves. But maybe we have to break those ideas apart and consider what this actually means. We spend much time discussing how to love our neighbors and who our neighbors are. What about the loving God part?
To love God with all our heart means that we see and do everything through love. Maybe it’s time to put on those rose-colored glasses and see the beauty in the people that surround us.
To love God with all our soul means that we should allow God’s love to ooze out of us so that all might know God’s love and what it means to be a worthy child of God. We are each blessed with unique gifts through which we are called to joyfully serve in the name of God.
To love God with all our strength is more of a challenge. Let’s start with Isaiah 40:31: But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Just as Paul continued to preach and teach from prison, we must continue our mission to serve until our time on this earth is no more.
To love God with all your mind is perhaps the hardest of them all. Our thoughts are often the root of our doubt and our confusion. Our mind becomes clouded by evil when we are tempted by earthly treasures. We begin to rationalize our thoughts and creep towards the darkness. We must always focus on what is holy, good, pure, . . . on GOD.
12 His purpose was to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ 13 until we all reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. God’s goal is for us to become mature adults—to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ.
Accept your gifts and use them as servants of our living Lord.
Gracious God, Thank You for loving us. Thank you for our blessings. May we accept your gifts of grace, love, and mercy and boldly use them to mirror Christ to the world. Thank you. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: There is one God and Father of all.
Love God! Pastor Liz