Ephesians: How to Love Like JesusSample

Devotional:

Imagine you are lost in the bush. Night has fallen as you attempt to hike back to your campsite, and your phone battery is dead. You think there might be a trail up ahead, but you can’t see anything, and there are no signposts around. Then suddenly, someone appears along the path and hands you a fully-charged phone with Google maps open and the path locked in to get to your campsite. They walk with you, holding a flashlight to guide the way and help you get back to your campsite. 

This is the picture Paul paints for us in this passage. We were lost, stumbling in darkness, but Jesus pulled us out of our transgressions and sins. Now we are free from the darkness and living in the light. We have no reason to return to the darkness to stumble about and get lost. We are in the light! Paul’s exhortation in this passage is to stay in the light — never returning to our old ways. 

Questions:

1. Consider your life. What is one area where you struggle to live in the light? How can you change this habit? Pray earnestly to God — that He will help you out of the darkness and back into the light. 
2. Paul speaks of ‘putting off’ our old self and ‘putting on’ our new self. What does this look like practically? How can we ensure that we keep living as our new selves?
3. It can be hard to stay living in the light if we are alone. Think of a fellow brother or sister in Christ. How can you encourage them to continue living in the light today?

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for rescuing me as I stumbled in the darkness. Thank you for helping me cast off my old self and put on my new self as I live in the light of Jesus. Help me to continue living for Jesus every day, as I cast off the habits of darkness. Amen.