Ephesians 4:31 - 5: 2 (TMSG) 32Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you. 1Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. 2Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. (The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Copyright © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
When I read this part of the passage "Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you"
Having looked at the verse before the one I reacted to does help me a bit. If we were to follow the words in verse 31; others would need to do a whole lot less forgiving like God forgave us!! If the rest of the church would also engage in the Don't and Nevers; we need to do less forgiving like God forgive us!
What would my church or your church look like if we Simply followed verse 31 & 31 above? Paul is asking a lot there but then Paul goes and tells us "We should watch God and then DO what GOD DOES!! Other versions say to imitate God like children. As a father I know the good and the bad of a child's imitating my behavior; and we will not go there today!! We have all had the experience of one of the teachers at the school where my mother was a paraeducator. The teacher chose to speak to the parent of a child who could color his sentences with words that an elementary age child should not know let allow speak. When it was point out that Johnny could make a sailor blush; the parent was reported to have colored their remark equally as well! Unlike this parent; God shows us how to speak, to make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk; to be gentle with one another, sensitive and to forgive one another quickly and thoroughly! God is the prefect parent and shows us the way to perfection as His children! I echo Paul's statement in Philippians 3:12
When I read this part of the passage "Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you"
Having looked at the verse before the one I reacted to does help me a bit. If we were to follow the words in verse 31; others would need to do a whole lot less forgiving like God forgave us!! If the rest of the church would also engage in the Don't and Nevers; we need to do less forgiving like God forgive us!
What would my church or your church look like if we Simply followed verse 31 & 31 above? Paul is asking a lot there but then Paul goes and tells us "We should watch God and then DO what GOD DOES!! Other versions say to imitate God like children. As a father I know the good and the bad of a child's imitating my behavior; and we will not go there today!! We have all had the experience of one of the teachers at the school where my mother was a paraeducator. The teacher chose to speak to the parent of a child who could color his sentences with words that an elementary age child should not know let allow speak. When it was point out that Johnny could make a sailor blush; the parent was reported to have colored their remark equally as well! Unlike this parent; God shows us how to speak, to make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk; to be gentle with one another, sensitive and to forgive one another quickly and thoroughly! God is the prefect parent and shows us the way to perfection as His children! I echo Paul's statement in Philippians 3:12
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. (New Living Translation)Here is the challenge. Look at God's behavior toward you in Christ and then behave that way toward those around you! I will guarantee that we will bless a lot of people we meet!!
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