"Christ-in-his-church"

Hello, again! Glad you stopped by today. I hope you're keeping up (or maybe catching up!) on your Year of the Bible readings. Can you believe we're almost halfway done?! Good for us!

Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
Finish this verse: “My flesh and my heart may fail; but ___________________________________” (Psalm 73)
Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

And here's the question of the day:
What does Paul ask the Christians at Ephesus to do? (Eph 3)

And here's the reflection of the day:
In his commentary on Ephesians, Ralph Winter describes its theme as "Christ-in-his-church" (Winter, Interpretation: Ephesians, p 4). "Christ-in-his-church." In other words, building up the Body of Christ, of which Christ is the head.

To build up the Body of Christ is to build up one another. The virtues that are listed (Eph 4:2-3) sound remarkably like the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). All of these are intended to be outward focused characteristics--putting others before ourselves, "bearing with one another in love" (v2). And Ephesians speaks of "the bond of peace" (v3) which is the glue that binds everything together. The peace of Christ is what holds the church together, what builds the body up. What an interesting thought from a BOUND apostle in prison, a prisoner for the Lord.

Putting a discussion of Ephesians authorship aside, Ephesians is a book which tells part of Paul's story, particularly when he was in jail. Paul is bound and shackled, deprived and mistreated. And yet he is able to urge others "to live a life worthy of the calling" they have received (v1). He must have envisioned the ties that bind his hands as the bonds of peace. How else could he have exhorted others while he himself was in such dire straits?

I think I'm going to try to remember that. The next time I feel "bound" by something, I'm going try to think of it as "the bonds of peace." I'm going to try to figure out how I can continue to live so as to be worthy of God's calling on my life, exhorting others and building others up rather than thinking only of my own discomfort.

Which reminds me of a song. . . (of course!)



Have a splendid day!
Allison