Every Day Devotion

Ephesians 4:8 [8] Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (ESV) What kind of trophies do you have? Perhaps you won a poetry contest?  Maybe you were on a championship football team?  Or like me, you have a 23rd place ribbon in basket weaving!  Well, with victory comes trophies.  In Bible days, it was referred to as the spoils of victory.  After an army went out to war, they would come home with gold, people, or other possessions.  I want you to consider that as we look at this passage in Ephesians 4:8. Paul is talking about Jesus.  Jesus ascended on high.  He had defeated death and sin on the cross.  He led a host of captives.  The captives were the ones bound by sin.  That would have been us.  And as the victorious king he has given gifts to us.  What gifts?  Spiritual gifts.  Do you remember that earlier in this book Paul told us that we h...

Ephesians 4:6–7 [6] one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. [7] But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. (ESV) For years there has been a popular, yet false notion about the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.  It is this basic notion that God is our doting father.  He does not discriminate between good and evil.  All are good.  All are his children.  And we are all brothers and sisters.  No need to worry about hell.  No need to be saved.  We are all his children.  If we just read verse 6 here today, without reading verse 7, we might be tricked into believing the worldly notion of the fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man. I am thankful for verse 7 which brings appropriate clarity.  But grace! Grace is an undeserved gift of God.  It is essential for our salvation.  As Paul has made very clear earlier in this epistle, it is by grace that ...

Ephesians 4:5 [5] one Lord, one faith, one baptism, (ESV) Paul continues his thoughts on unity.  As he talks to these Ephesians he emphasizes that there is one Lord.  In the ancient city of Ephesus there was a idol of a god on every street corner.  They worshiped all kinds of gods.  All of them were false gods.  As Paul is emphasizing the unity that Christ brings to both Jew and Gentile he reminds them that there is only one Lord.  This would have been a major cultural change for the Ephesians.  But a necessary one. One faith. How many times have you heard someone say, "As long as you have faith, that's all that matters."  Faith in what?  Faith in whom?  Scripture makes clear that there is only one legitimate faith.  The Epistle of Jude speaks to this point: Jude 3 [3] Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that...

Ephesians 4:4 [4] There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— (ESV) When you go to your church does the word, "oneness," come to mind?  When you think of the church at large do you think that the world sees us as being one with one another?  Are we one with God? Paul has expounded on how God has called us together as one body.  He tells us that the practical aspect of this is that we should be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. If we want the unity that we are to be eager to maintain, we must understand what it means to celebrate oneness! There is one body.  In so many ways it seems that the Body of Christ is splintered and separated.  Those who claim to know Jesus won't talk with another brother or sister in the Body because of some silly grudge or petty argument.  Paul says that there is one body and one spirit. If we think about that for a moment it would help ...

Ephesians 4:3 [3] eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (ESV) “There can be union without unity: tie two cats together by their tails and throw them over a clothesline.” God calls us to much more than union.  He calls us to unity.  I think that for far too many churches they have union, but no unity.  In fact, they act like cats tied together by their tails.  It brings disgrace to the Church and to the name of Christ.  In today's verse Paul says that we are to be eager to maintain unity. What are you eager to do? It will speak volumes as to where your heart is. A child can claim all day long that they would like to please their parents, but if you want to check their sincerity in the matter, look at what they actually DO!!! It breaks my heart as I look at my own walk with the Lord sometimes. I say that I want to spend more time with the Lord. I pray about reading more of the Word of God. But, I wake up and start my day, demons...

Ephesians 4:2 [2] with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, (ESV) Let's look at that phrase, "With patience, bearing with one another in love." What about patience That word literally means “Long-tempered.” We certainly know what it means to be short-tempered! Those who are quick to be offended; quick to be upset; quick to feel wronged are demonstrating that they are not being patient. Now, if we are humble, and gentle, it will help us to be patient. We will have already placed our importance in a place of submission to others already! Before I get upset with my brother or sister, I need to think about who I am, and what I am all about. To be long-tempered might mean waiting longer to consider a situation. How about this idea of “bearing with one another in love.” I like this phrase, but I fear that we only live out part of it. Let me explain. We read the words, “bearing with one another.” But do we really understand the ...

Ephesians 4:2 [2] with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, (ESV) As Paul continues to define how we are to walk out our calling in the Lord, he now gives us the character of our walk.  He gives us four words to ponder. Today we are going to look at the first two: 1. Humility 2. Gentleness 3. Patience 4. Bearing with one another in Love Humility and Gentleness are combined here. These are not qualities that we see very often. They certainly are not qualities that are inherent in humanity. At the time that Paul wrote these words the Roman society viewed this character of humility and gentleness as flawed humanity. To be humble and gentle was viewed as weakness. If we are not careful we can fall into the same mindset. We can be afraid that if we are  gentle and humble we will be  perceived as being weak. Shouldn’t we rather be concerned that we are perceived as being Christ-like? Matthew 11:29 [29] Take my yoke u...