“So this I say and solemnly testify in [the name of] the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the heathen (the Gentiles) do in their perverseness [in the folly, vanity, and emptiness of their souls and the futility] of their minds. “Their [a]moral understanding is darkened and their reasoning is beclouded. [They are] alienated (estranged, self-banished) from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the ignorance (the want of knowledge and perception, the willful blindness) that is [b]deep-seated in them, due to their hardness of heart [to the insensitiveness of their moral nature]. In their spiritual apathy they have become callous and past feeling and reckless and have abandoned themselves [a prey] to unbridled sensuality, eager and greedy to indulge in every form of impurity [that their depraved desires may suggest and demand].” Ephesians 4:17-19
So let’s ask ourselves…do we look any different than the world around us? To be holy means to be set apart. Once we have accepted Christ the scripture says we are made holy. But this passage definitely indicates that we must choose to live like it. It also makes it clear that we can make that choice and execute it. God would never command us to do something we are incapable of (with His help of course).
In this season that is all due to the birth of our Lord and Savior, be sure you look different. Smile while you’re out there in the crowds. Be patient and gentle with the harried clerks. Give from a joyful heart out of the abundance that Christ has placed in you. In the midst of all the decorations and lights let the Light in you outshine them all.
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matt 5:16
“ that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,” Phil. 2:15
