"Be Imitators of God"
Chapter 5
1 Therefor become imitators of God, copy him and follow his example, as well-beloved children imitate their father;
2 and walk continually in love, that is, value one another, practice empathy and compassion, unselfishly seeking the best for others, just as Christ also love you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God, slain for you, so that it became a sweet fragrance.
3 But sexual immorality and all moral impurity, indecent, offensive behavior, or greed must not even be hinted at among you, as is proper among saints, for as believer our way of life, whether in public or private, reflects the validity of our faith.
4 Let there be no filthiness and silly talk or corese obscene or vulgar joking, because such things are not appropriate for believers, but instead speak of your thankfulness to God.
5 For be sure of this; no immoral, impure, or greedy person, for that one is in effect an idolater, had any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God, for such a person places a higher value on something other than God!
6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments that encourage you to sin, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience, those who habitually sin.
7 So do not participate or even associated with then in the rebelliousness of sin.
8 For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light, live as those who are native-born to the light
9 For the fruit, the effect, the result, of the Light consists of all goodness and righteousness and truth
10 Trying to learn by experience what is pleasing to the Lord, and letting tour lifestyles be examples of what is most acceptable to him- your behavior expressing gratitude to God for your salvation
11 Do not participate in the worthless and unproductive deeds of darkness, but instead expose them by exemplifying personal integrity, moral courage, and godly character
12 For it is disgraceful even to mention the things that such people practice in secret.
13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light of God's precepts, for it is light that makes everything visible.
14 For this reason He says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, and Christ will shine as dawn upon you and give you light"
15 Therefor see that you walk carefully, living life with honor, purpose, and courage; shunning those who tolerate and enable evil, not as the unwise, but as wise, sensible, intelligent, discerning people
16 Making the very most of your time on Earth, recognizing and taking advantage of each opportunity and using it with wisdom and diligence, because the days are filled with evil
17 Therefor do not be foolish and thoughtless, but understand and firmly grasp what the will of the Lord is
18 Do not get drunk with wine, for that is wickedness, corruption, stupidity, but be filled with the Holy Spirit and constantly guided by Him
19 Speak to one another in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, offering praises by singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord
20 Always giving thanks to God the Father for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
21 Being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Analysis & Commentary
Here in Ephesians 5, the entire chapter 1-21, in the New Testament of the Christian Bible we see wisdom encouraging personal integrity, moral character, ethics & morality. I am not telling you what to believe, only showing you with an example why the central tenant of Love in Christianity makes it the best world religion in my personal opinion.
Here I am showing you the Holy Word of God from my faith, as a Christian & follower of Christ Jesus. Even if you just read this for mental encouragement it can have a powerfully positive effect on your brain, thinking, conduct & character. Furthermore if you really believe in the Word as it is written, it can have an even more transformative effect on your thinking, personal conduct, choices & behaviors, and this materials supports the axiomatic basis of my blog, Thinking About it, since I have a strong desire to help elevate other people by enhancing the way the think, upgrading their philosophies & believes with more excellence in more ways!
What you believe affects the way that you make choices. Your believes affect your relationships to other people. The way you conduct yourself, your behavior, your personality, these are also affected by your beliefs. I am not telling anyone what to believe & actively promote religious freedom. I believe that Faith is an important personal choices & that you & I are both free to choose what we believe in. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. You have to make up your own mind about becoming a decent honest honorable person, treating other people, animals and nature with dignity and respect.
A lot of things things that people dislike in the world occurs because other people are not living honorable honest decent lives with moral integrity or ethical conduct. Some bad people in world governments & large corporations make greedy evil choices that give ride to toxic products, toxic emissions, pollution, preventable diseases, corruption, crime, and other forms of negativity & social decay & societal dysfunction.
I have read from many world religious texts and found that most of them teach similar moral lessons about personal conduct, personal accountability even when no one else is looking, about personal character development such that these religions teach their adherents to be high functioning and wise & to not engage in foolish or stupid speech or conduct. They teach people that being greedy is wrong and bad! They teach people to tell each other the truth, even if being honest hurts or is hard! Most of what I read encourage people to treat each other & nature with dignity & respect, conducting oneself with honor, integrity, accountability, a strong mind & good moral character, executing social responsibility in their homes & communities. These believe systems are intended to teach people moral lessons with stores that encourage people to lift up or elevate their thinking!
That is the basic spiritual core of my blog & why I write these articles. I want to help other people understand more, especially scientific facts, even more so because the emerging edge of physics now proving what God has been saying in the Bible all along! Yes, emergent science is confirming what faith teaches, with quantum entanglement for example!
I am saying that everyone & everything in life is connected, that how we are connected to one another as people makes all the difference, since we become like people who we associate with or spend time with, such that if people spend time with other high quality people, they to elevate their moral & ethical attributes, they improve their character & personality, speech & conduct, making wiser more intelligent choices, like decarbonizing energy worldwide with more 4th generation Nuclear Breeder Reactors to make clean abundant cheap electricity for 10 billion + people for thousands of years without burning carbon or releasing CO2 emissions.
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