January 7th - Reflection

Reading

Ephesians 4:17 5:1 (NRSV)
Life lived in Christ

Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ! For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,

Reflection
Wow! That's a tall order! But, it is a call to change. Change as Christ has set the example. Turn from the sin that I have been doing, and change. For I have been given a wonderful gift. I have been renewed in the spirit of my mind. God has placed a spirit of joy within my mind. Through the forgiveness of sin a weight has been lifted and I can go freely to shine Christ's glorious Light into all the world. Shine the Light so that others can see the Light of life and love, and understand that that very same Light, is theirs also. Free in joy to be imitators of God as beloved children.

So in that joy, in that Light, the tall order of change, is brought back to something that can be accomplished, through the grace of God. Change can take place, but not through our own efforts, but by the will and love of God. God is wonderfully Big to become so small. Small enough to take on flesh and blood and understand you and me. Big enough to love His creation, to save us from ourselves. Big enough to bring about a miraculous change, and small enough to allow each of us to change for Him and in Him. Truly joy to the world and truly joy to you and me. Thanks be to God!

Prayer
I look forward in joy to the change You are making in me. I am here to change into Your delight. Change me this day! --- Amen