Embracing the Fullness of Your Calling in ChristSample

The Life God Planned For You

“Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children.” Ephesians 5:1 (ESV)

The life God planned for you is rooted in nourishing, wholesome relationships. As the Father delights in His relationship with us, cultivating healthy, godly relationships adds joy and delight to our lives and makes them full. When we have friction and strife in our relationships, it takes away from the full, abundant life God desires for us to have and enjoy.

If we succeed in our careers and ministries but don’t have people to share our lives with, or our relationships are dysfunctional, we are missing out on the fullness of the life God planned for us.

After Paul explains the riches and responsibilities of God’s calling related to our personal callings, the body of Christ, and ministry, he shares how we work out our callings with the people closest to us and those we are in community with.

Ephesians, Chapters Five and Six, outlines the principles for cultivating God-honoring relationships. He begins by telling us to be imitators of Christ in our relationships. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul left no relationship out – husbands and wives, parents and children, employers and workers.

Imitating Christ means choosing to love, honor, and respect the people we are in relationships with, whether close or casual, as God would, and submitting to God’s principles outlined in His word, even when things seem unfair. God desires us to love others, especially those He has joined us with, as Christ loved us, in a way that lays down our rights as a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God.

Prayer: Lord, help me to love the people you’ve entrusted to me and those you put in my path for a short season as you love me, and to imitate your character in all my relationships, thinking of others above myself.