Today in our study of Ephesians, we looked at Righteousness. The Scriptures for today’s lesson is Ephesians 5:5-21. These verses show that we are called be righteous, imitators of God. I started out my teaching today with a video. You can watch it here or embedded on the blog:

This video helps demonstrate our text for today. You see, as Christ’s love begins to transform us, our behavior will begin to change. It’s the supernatural love of Christ that allows us to show love to others. It moves us from the Gospel message to the Gospel mission.

We are righteous because

• God counts Jesus’ goodness instead of our sins when we have faith in Jesus.
• We are becoming holy as we obey God more and more in our lives.
• We distinguish between being righteous and being holy by understanding that we are righteous because of the cross and are becoming holy through the process of sanctification

But righteousness – living holy lives –  is not simply an obligation but a motivation out of our love for Christ.

This weeks’ text, divided into 4 parts, give us reasons we need to become imitators of God  (5:1). They are: 

1. Judgment (vs. 5-7)
2. Light (vs. 8-14)
3. Wisdom (vs. 15-17)
4. Fullness of the spirit (vs. 18-21)

Are you spending your time wisely to become an imitator of God? Reflect on this and give God your calendar to make the best use of your time.