Note that another Greek word huios (5207), translated son, differs from teknon because the latter gives prominence to the fact of birth, whereas huios stresses the dignity and character of the relationship and usually speaks of one who is fully mature. Despite these distinctions, because these words often overlap in meaning and are used seemingly without discrimination, one should not press their semantic differences in every case but allow the context to rule in the interpretation (always a good rule!)

Teknon was used in secular Greek writings as a form of familiar, tender or affectionate address to speak of one kindly even if they were adults referring to them as "my son" or "my child". For example Jesus speaking to the paralytic declared

Take courage, My son (teknon), your sins are forgiven. (Mt 9:2)

In the NT, pupils or disciples are called children of their teachers, because the latter by their instruction nourish the minds of their pupils and mold their characters. For example Paul writes...

For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child (teknon) in the Lord (2Ti 1:2-notes), and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. (1Co 4:17) (Comment: In his first epistle Paul writes as a spiritual father "to Timothy, my true child [teknon] in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." 1Ti 1:2. In Titus Paul again writes as a spiritual father "to Titus, my true child  [teknon] in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior." see Titus 1:2-note)

Teknon takes on special theological significance when the Bible calls believers the children of God (Click here for NT uses of this wonderful phrase - note one use by Paul is not of those who are born again and uses genos -- "offspring" -- not teknon in the Greek text  - see if you can determine which one is not referring to the born again members of the family of God) or more literally "born ones" of God. In using teknon in this context the NT is not saying believers are "childlike" but tat we are members of God's family as thus heirs, Paul affirming...

and if children (teknon), heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. (Ro 8:17-note)

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The Louvre in Paris is perhaps the most famous art museum in the world. It displays originals by such masters as Delacroix, Michelangelo, Rubens, da Vinci, Ingres, Vermeer, and many others.

Since 1793, the Louvre has encouraged aspiring artists to come and copy the masters. Some of our most famous modern artists have done that and have become better painters by copying the best the world has ever known.

An article in Smithsonian magazine tells about Amal Dagher, a 63-year-old man who has been duplicating art at the Louvre for 30 years. Dagher remains in awe of the masters and continues to learn from them. He said, "If you're too satisfied with yourself, you can't improve."

Paul instructed us to be "imitators of God" (Ephesians 5:1). In his first letter to the Thessalonians, he commended the believers because they were becoming like the Lord and setting an example for others (1Thessalonians 1:6, 7, 8, 9, 10).

Like the Louvre copyists, we'll never reach perfection before we get to heaven. Even so, we must resist the temptation to be satisfied with our present imitation of Jesus. We need to keep looking to Him, learning from Him, and asking for His help. Let's copy the Master. —David C. Egner (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

More like the Master I would live and grow,
More of His love to others I would show;
More self-denial, like His in Galilee,
More like the Master I long to ever be. —Gabriel

To become like Christ, we must learn from the Master

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Ephesians 5:1
F B Meyer

Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. (r.v.)

Children mostly resemble their father. There is often an unmistakable family likeness, which compels the most casual observer to exclaim, “The very image of his father.” Oh that in each of us there might be that which would make men think of God!

Put away your former manner of life (Ephesians 4:22). — The old man stands for the collection of habits, sayings, and doings which characterised our unregenerate days. The apostle says that they are to be put away suddenly, instantly. Evidently this is possible, or such a command would not be issued. Men speak of a gradual reformation, and advise the piecemeal discontinuance of evil. God, on the contrary, bids us treat the evil past as a company of soldiers would bandits and outlaws. There is the greater reason for this, as the old man waxeth corrupt. Even Martha could not bear the opening of her brothers vault.

Be renewed in the spirit of your mind (Ephesians 4:23). — We are reminded of Romans 12:2. The mind needs to be brought into daily, hourly contact with God’s thoughts, as contained in Scripture, that it may be renewed; else our constant association with the men and women of the world, their maxims and practices, will inevitably and sorrowfully deteriorate it. The only source of daily renewal is fellowship with God.

Put on the new man. — Of this the apostle affirms that it is according to God, and has been created. Our Lord created this beauteous dress when He rose from the dead. The day of resurrection was one of creation. All the habits and dispositions of a holy, godlike life have been prepared for us in Him, and await our appropriation; and as they are according to God, so soon as we put them on we shall become imitators of God as dear children. (Meyer, F. B. Our Daily Homily)

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Living Up To The Name
Ephesians 5:1
August 3, 1999

Our 9-pound Yorkie was barking frantically and digging furiously to get at a chipmunk that had scurried under a shed. She looked at me with an expression that seemed to say, "Can't you do something to help me catch it?" I didn't help her, but neither did I scold her. While I wish she could distinguish between rats and chipmunks, it's natural for her to go after any rodent. She is, after all, from a family of small terriers that were bred in Yorkshire, England, to kill rats. So she's living up to her family name.

God expects His "dear children" (Eph. 5:1), who have been delivered from spiritual darkness and made to be "light in the Lord" (v.8), to do what we were redeemed to do. He wants us to "walk in love, as Christ also has loved us" (Ep 5:2), and not to speak or live as unbelievers who have no share in God's eternal kingdom (Ep 5:5, 6).

Obviously, living as God's children is not a matter of instinct. We are challenged to remind ourselves daily of who we are by God's grace. Only as we do this consistently and become "imitators of God as dear children" can we have the joy of knowing that we please the Lord.

When we do what God saved us to do, we'll be living up to the family name. --H V Lugt (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Dear Jesus, take my heart and hand,
And grant me this, I pray:
That I through Your sweet love may grow
More like You day by day. --Garrison

How we behave reveals what we believe.

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Just Like My Dad!
Ephesians 5:1
June 18, 1995

Like so many kids her age, my daughter Julie loves to play basketball. Of course she's had more than a little encouragement, since that is my sport of choice.

Much of what Julie knows about the game has come from our driveway sessions. Occasionally, as I have watched her playing ball with friends, I've heard her remark after making a long shot, "Just like my dad!"

That's a good feeling, but the other day she said something that made me feel even better. We were talking about how she imitates me on the court, and she said, "Dad, Christians should be imitators too. We should imitate Jesus. Then we could say, 'Just like Jesus.'"

Julie is right. We need to know how Jesus responded to trouble--and react as He did. We need to know how He answered critics--and answer as He did. We need to know how Jesus cared for others--and treat them as He did.

That's a lofty aim, but it should be the goal of every Christian. We can only begin to do this by regularly studying God's Word and daily seeking the Holy Spirit's guidance in all that we do.

Imagine the joy it would give our Lord if we would always try to handle life just like Jesus. --J D Brannon (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Peripateo is a favorite word of Paul in Ephesians, used to describe our behavior both before and after we are saved...

Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. (See notes Ephesians 2:1; 2:2)

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (see note Ephesians 2:10)

Ephesians 4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, (see note Ephesians 4:1)

Ephesians 4:17 This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind (see note Ephesians 4:17)

"Conduct (command to continually - present imperative) yourselves with wisdom (living prudently and with discretion) toward outsiders (non-Christians, whether Jew or Gentile), making the most of the opportunity (present tense - continually seizing, redeeming or buying up the opportunity)." (see note Colossians 4:5)

Love  (26) (agape) (Click word study on agape) is unconditional, sacrificial love which God is. It is love which is commanded in believers, empowered by His Spirit, activated by personal choice of one's will, is not based on one's feelings toward the object of one's love and is manifested by specific actions (see 1Cor 13:4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (notes) for a succinct list of these actions). Agape love speaks of a love called out of one’s heart by the preciousness of the one loved, a love that impels one to sacrifice one’s self for the benefit of the object loved. It is the love shown at Calvary. The prototype of this quality of supernatural love is the Father's love for sinful men as manifest by the Son's sacrifice on the Cross. That is the love in which we are to be rooted and grounded and in which we are called to walk!

Agape is God's willful direction toward man. It involves God doing what He knows is best for man and not necessarily what man desires. For example, John 3:16 states, "For God so loved the world, that he gave." What did He give? Not what man wanted, but what God knew man needed, i.e., His Son to bring forgiveness to man.

Loved  (25) (agapao) describes the love God gives freely, sacrificially and unconditionally regardless of response -- love that goes out not only to the lovable but to one’s enemies or those that don't "deserve" it. Agapao speaks especially of love as based on evaluation and choice, a matter of will and action. This love is not sentimental or emotional but obedient and reflective of the act of one's will with the ultimate desire being for another's highest good. Since it is unconditional, this love is still given if it's not received/returned! Agape gives and give and gives. It is not withheld.

Agape love is commanded of believers, empowered by His Spirit, activated by personal choice of one's will, not based on one's feelings toward the object of one's love and manifested by specific actions (see 1Cor 13:4-8 (notes) for a succinct list of these actions). Agape love speaks of a love called out of one’s heart by the preciousness of the one loved, a love that impels one to sacrifice one’s self for the benefit of the object loved. It is the love shown at Calvary. The prototype of this quality of supernatural love is the Father's love for sinful men as manifest by the Son's sacrifice on the Cross.

Wuest adds that...

This love is the agape love which God is, which God exhibited at the Cross, which Paul analyzes in 1 Corinthians 13, and which is the fruit of the Spirit in the yielded saint. The saint is to order his behavior or manner of life within the sphere of this divine, supernatural love produced in his heart by the Holy Spirit. When this love becomes the deciding factor in his choices and the motivating power in his actions, he will be walking in love. He will be exemplifying in his life the self-sacrificial love shown at Calvary and the Christian graces mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans)

Speaking to faithless Israel God speaks of coming days of restoration declaring...

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. (Jeremiah 31:3)

In Romans Paul explains that even while we were helpless and ungodly, Christ died for the ungodly adding...

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (see note Romans 5:8)

John writes...

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)

Gave Himself up - ultimately this speaks of His death in our place! In the context of Christian's being commanded to walk in love, we see that such a walk means a death to self and a giving of self to others (as Christ did).

He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. (See note Romans 4:25)

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? (See note Romans 8:32)

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. (See note Galatians 2:20)

Himself (heautois) is a reflexive pronoun, emphasizing Christ's personal involvement (He initiated the action and carried out the action ... all for us).

Gave up (3860) (paradidomi from para = alongside, beside + didomi = give) means to  give alongside. The basic idea is to give over from one's hand to someone or something with particular reference to a right or an authority. This concept is illustrated in the devil's attempt to tempt our Lord...

And the devil said to Him, "I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to (paradidomi) me, and I give it to whomever I wish. (Luke 4:6)

In the ancient world paradidomi was used as a technical term of police and courts = ‘hand over into the custody of’. The idea is to give over into one’s power or use and involves either the handing over of a presumably guilty person for punishment by authorities or the handing over of an individual to an enemy who will presumably take undue advantage of the victim, as was the case in the arrest and trials that followed our Lord's being giving over.

is in the point tense (Ed: "aorist") because it refers to the “one act of righteousness,” Romans 5:18 (see note), in which the eternal love of God found its highest expression, and by which the salvation of believers was secured...Complete comprehension of “the mystery of God, even Christ” lies beyond the capacity of the human mind. The more closely it is considered the greater grows the wonder of its unfathomable depths. Not only was God in Christ during His life on earth, John 14:10 , God was in Christ in His reconciling death, 2 Corinthians 5:19 . This ground is holy, yet is it to be approached, albeit with “reverence and awe,” for all that God has been pleased to reveal is proper subject for the worshipful consideration of His children. Two cautions are needful here, however. We may not go beyond what is written, and we may not expect to eliminate mystery from the Divine sacrifice or to reconcile all that is revealed concerning it; the human point of view is far too low, the human outlook far too limited, to admit of that. (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson )

Although Paul clearly states that Jesus of His own volition gave Himself over into the hands of evil men, many of the other uses of paradidomi in the gospels describe the giving over of our Lord Jesus Christ  into the hand's and the authority of His various and manifold adversaries...and so we read that Jesus was given over...

But do we have good reasons to rest in Him? The final words of Galatians 2:20 supply ample grounds. Our faith is in the Son of God, "who loved me and gave himself for me." Cf. Gal 1:4. All of the essentials of the atonement are found here. His redemptive work is grounded in the love that expressed itself in the cross, the word "loved" being an aorist in tense and referring to the event of the cross as the issue of eternal, electing love (cf. Eph 1:3, 4, 5, 6; 2:4, etc.). The verb, "gave," means to hand over, to deliver over (cf. Ro 4:25-note; Ro 8:32-note; Eph. 5:2). It in this context suggests these important things:

Now in chapter 5, look at the word Therefore. Any time you see a "therefore," you always look to see what it is there for. You know what it is there for. I just told you. He says since this garment is this way and this garment is this way,

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma."

He is saying,

"Be an imitator of God."

In what way? In the fact that we walk in His love. We are to be the imitators of God’s love.

Do you know what the word "imitate" means? It is the word mimetes. It is the word from which we get the English word "mime." Have you ever seen somebody mime? They don’t say anything, do they? They express it and when they express it, it is so exaggerated that nobody misses what they are trying to say. They haven’t said a word. In other words, what Paul is saying is,

"Don’t talk about His love, walk in His love, live it, express it. Don’t tell everybody you have it, show them that you have it. Do as God does. Mime. In other words, live it out before the world."

This word is important for us to understand.

Look in 1 Corinthians 4:11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. We find Paul using this same word and it is very critical to understand it. I just want to make sure you have a real good grasp on what it means to imitate God, particularly God’s love. Paul is going to give you a little context here and then we are going to find the word. He says,

"To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. I exhort you therefore, be imitators of me."

In other words, do as I do. Express it. Don’t tell me that you love Jesus, show me. I have shown you. I have become the scum of this world because I want to be only one that loves Jesus Christ. You now show me that you love Jesus. Do as I do.

In 1Corinthians 11:1 he says it again:

"Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ."

You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, (Note)

So does 1Thessalonians 2:14,

For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews,

1 Peter 3:13

and who is he who will be doing you evil, if of Him who is good ye may become imitators? (Only in Textus Receptus, this is Young's Literal translation) (Note)

that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (note)

Mimetes means "do as I do."

So what we are seeing here in Ephesians is, do as God does. Imitate God. Mime Him. Don’t talk it, walk it. Express God’s love to one another. That is what the new garment is all about. It shows itself in relationships.

Now I am sure somebody is saying,

"Now wait a minute. Hold on. How in the world am I going to imitate God?"

The word "love" that we are looking at in verses 1-2 is a love that is far beyond what any man could ever attain. No man, regardless of how sincere he is, can work up this kind of love. This is God’s love.

To be an imitator of God is not something you do for Him. It is something God has to do through you. Let me show you this. There are two things that are very critical that we need to understand in this text. First of all, in order to imitate God’s love, we have to be His child. The verse is very clear. He says in verse 1 again,

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children."

This is a command, present imperative. It is a command.

Let’s look at the word "children." There is a word for child in the Greek that means an infant that has just been born. That is not the word mentioned here. There is another word for child that means one that is grown up and matured, huios. That is not the word that is used here. The word that is used here is the word teknon. It is the word that means an offspring of someone. It is a child, but it has to do with the fact that you bear the characteristics and the nature of your father.

"Oh, you mean to tell me to love as God loves, I am going to have to have His nature within me?"

That is exactly right. That is exactly what happens when you receive Christ into your life. His very nature comes into your life. His spirit unites with your spirit and my spirit, and therefore, we have the potential now out of that nature to love as He loves.

"For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."  (note)

In other words, I partake of the divine nature. His Spirit living in us gives us that brand new nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we are commanded to love on a supernatural level, we have the potential of doing it if we are His children and bear His nature.

I can’t be like Him until His nature is within me. I must be His child before I can be an imitator of God’s love. His Spirit in me is His nature in me. Look back in Ephesians 3:16:

"that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power [dunamis, which means ability that is beyond yourself] through His Spirit in the inner man."  (note)

Why is the Spirit of God within me? The Spirit of God is in me to enable me to live on the plane that God commands me to live. He strengthens with His power. What is the fruit of the Spirit? The fruit is the manifestation that His Spirit has enacted in my life. The fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22 says, is love. That love is a divine, supernatural, unconditional love that is only from the nature of God that is within me. So therefore, before I can be an imitator of God’s love or even put on that garment, I have to be His child. I have to possess His nature. Like Father, like son.

The second thing not only must I be His child, but I must choose to obey His command. I want to share something with you, loving on this level is not a feeling. It is not something that is going to happen to you because you had your quiet time. It is not something that is going to happen to you because you sincerely want it to happen to you. It is something that is going to happen when you choose to love others around you. The very fact that this is an unconditional love means there are going to be people out there who aren’t going to deserve it and you are not going to want to love them. It is a command. We have to say,

"God, I in my flesh don’t want to do this, but in my spirit I know that I am commanded and I choose to do it. I don’t feel like it."

It is a choice you have got to make. Husband, wife, are you living with somebody that you think is unlovable? If you possess the nature of God, you are commanded to love. You have to make your own personal choice to do it. When you choose to do it, and when you choose to be strengthened as Eph 3:16-note says, when you start accommodating Jesus in all the rooms of your heart, by your faith, by your obedience, then you begin to experience His power. That is what every one of us lacks. We don’t have it apart from Him. When we are His children, we have His nature.

Paul gives us a standard for that love that is incredible. He says,

"walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma."

The standard is the way He loved us. Oh, folks, do you realize what he is saying? We have been much loved. If you are a believer, it cost God a great expense. That same willingness to pay that same kind of price is now asked of us, commanded of us. We are to have that same willingness to love others who don’t deserve it in our life, just as He gave of Himself. This is God we are talking about.

As a matter of fact, Paul says that you are to be imitators of God as what kind of children? Beloved children. You know why we should be walking in love? Because we have been loved so much. Now, if Paul had started off in chapter 1 and said that, it wouldn’t have made any sense. But since it is in chapter 5 it makes a whole lot of sense. How have we been loved? Look in Eph 1:4, just to remind you. The last two words of Eph 5:4 and on into Eph 5:5 says,

"In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself."

God loved us. Do you think we deserved it? We lost our right to relate to Him when Adam sinned. However, God chose before the foundation of the world, based on information He already knew, that His creation would reject Him. He chose to have us adopted back into His family by being born again, providing Jesus as the sacrifice eternally for our sins. God loved us, so He chose us. We have been loved today. WE are chosen today.

Not only that, look in Ephesians 2:4.

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)."

You see, it was all His love that did it. We have been much loved. God loves us right now. He has loved us eternally.

Look in Eph 3:17 at the last phrase:

 "and that you, being rooted and grounded in love."

Not only did God love me, not only did He love me enough to come and die for me, but now when I am saved, He puts me into the soil of His love. He roots me into it. He grounds me upon it. Everything I do ought to spring forth out of that love. Everything I do ought to be built upon that love. I have that kind of potential today. I am beloved as a child. I need to love because I have been loved.

When you understand that, look at how it effects our relationship. Look at Ephesians 4:2:

"with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love."

Do you realize the love that we express to one another causes us to forbear each other? I have to put up with you. You have to put up with me. We have to put up with each other. Do you know why? Because if we walk in love, which we are commanded to do, then we are going to forbear one another, we are going to have patience with one another, we are going to have all the things that make up forbearance. That is what makes relationships last.

Do you realize what that will do to a family? You will forbear one another. Even when things are bad, you will forbear. Why? You have the nature of God within you. You have chosen. You have been loved and you’ve made the choice to love now with that same love the people that are around you. What is going on in your family? What is going on in your marriage? I want to tell you something, folks, if you will come to Jesus, you will find your solution. That is not a simple statement, that is a very profound statement. If you are a believer, He has given you His nature and you can love when you don’t feel like it or when others around you don’t deserve it. You’ll even forbear one another.

In Ephesians 4:15, look at what it says. The truth is confirmed by this love:

"but speaking the truth in love."

Now you know when we studied this that the word "speaking" is not even in the text. It means to confirm something, to express something. Anytime you express truth or confirm it, it has to be in love. Love is the confirmation of truth. It confirms everything we do when it is a part of our life. It is not something you tell people you have. It is something you mime. It is something you show them that you have. It automatically confirms the truth that is within you.

Look also at Ephesians 4:16. This is how the body is built up. It’s not just by teaching, or just by the gifts being exercised. Oh no. All of it has to be surrounded by one quality:

"from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love."

The body can’t even be built up unless that love is present. It perfects its own building up if we are walking in love.

Look at Eph 5:25. It is the only thing that will purify your family. Husbands, it starts with us. It doesn’t start with our wives. It starts with you and me. Paul is very specific about it. He says in verse 25,

"Husbands, love your wives."

You say,

"I can’t."

No, you won’t. If you are a believer, you can. You can choose to do that and be strengthened in the inner man by His power so that you can imitate the love of God to your wife.

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her."

You know, the description of that love is very clear. He gave Himself as an offering and a sacrifice. So the whole idea here is I die to myself so that Jesus can be Jesus in me. When Jesus is being Jesus in me, my wife, my son, my daughter, my son-in-law, all know they are loved. They are being effected daily by a conscious choice I am making. Most of the time that is without any feelings. But knowing that I have the nature of God and choosing to obey His command, they are automatically built up because of that love. That is the way it works.

"Oh, that doesn’t work for me." No? Then listen, there is something wrong in you. There is not anything wrong with Him. He has given us everything necessary for life and godliness. Peter says that. Paul is saying the same thing. The only reason it won’t work is because we won’t let it work. The problem is what we look at in the mirror every morning. It is us. Until we learn to die and make conscious choices to let His nature work, it will not function the way it is supposed to function 

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Love Letters
Ephesians 5:2
January 18, 2001

To "walk in love" means that we continually do the little acts of kindness that can make life bearable and better for another person.

One practical way to express our love costs only the price of a postage stamp—plus paper, ink, and a little thought.

All of us have felt the nudge to write a letter—an unexpected note that could brighten another person's day. Perhaps it is a note of appreciation, an expression of concern, or a compliment for a task well done. Too often the letter goes unwritten and the impulse is unexpressed. We convince ourselves that we don't have time, or that our letter won't matter.

A young minister cherished a note he received from a busy architect in his congregation. The letter said simply, "Your sermon met me where I was on Sunday—at the crossroads of confusion and hurt. Thanks for preaching it!" Those words met the pastor where he lived—at the intersection of discouragement and pain—and encouraged him to keep on in the ministry. The note took less than 5 minutes to write.

Can you think of someone who needs encouragement, thanks, or a reminder that you are praying for him or her? "Walk in love" to the mailbox today. —H W Robinson (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

It was only a brief little note,
Or a word that was prayerfully spoken,
Yet not in vain, for it soothed the pain
Of a heart that was nearly broken. —Anon.

One little act of kindness can have multiple results.

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Why Love Begets Hate
August 18, 2005
Ephesians 5:2

If there is one thing believers in Jesus should be known for, it is love. The word love appears in Scripture more than 500 times. The essence of the gospel is love, as we see in John 3:16. "For God so loved the world . . . ." The epistle of 1John 3:16 elaborates: "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us."

Christians are to serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13), love their neighbors as themselves (Galatians 5:14), live a life of love (Ephesians 5:2), and love with actions and in truth (1 John 3:18).

So, if Jesus and His followers are all about love, why do some people love to hate us? Why are there, according to one estimate, 200 million persecuted believers in the world today?

Jesus told us why. He said to His disciples, "Everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed" (John 3:20). Jesus is the Light. When He walked this earth, people hated Him because He exposed the darkness of their sin. We are now His light in this world (Matthew 5:14); therefore, the world will also hate us (John 15:19).

Our task is to be channels of God's love and light, even if we are hated in return. —Dave Branon (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Some will hate you, some will love you;
Some will flatter, some will slight;
Cease from man, and look above you,
Trust in God and do the right. —Macleod

Love in return for love is natural, but love in return for hate is supernatural.