WEDNESDAY'S WISDOM: WALKING THE CHRISTIAN WALK IN UNITY OF MIND & PRINCIPLE...

EPHESIANS 4 
1/ Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 
2/ with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,  
3/ being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  
4/ There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;  
5/ one Lord, one faith, one baptism,  
6/ one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. 

17/ So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,  
18/ being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;  
19/ and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 
20/ But you did not learn Christ in this way,  
21/ if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 
22/ that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,  
23/ and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 
24/ and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. 

25/ Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. 
26/ BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 
27/ and do not give the devil an opportunity. 
28/ He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.  
29/ Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 
30/ Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 
31/ Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 
32/ Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Nothing is pressed more earnestly in the Scriptures, than to walk as becomes those called to Christ's kingdom and glory. By lowliness, understand humility, which is opposed to pride. By meekness, that excellent disposition of soul, which makes men unwilling to provoke, and not easily to be provoked or offended. 

We find much in ourselves for which we can hardly forgive ourselves; therefore we must not be surprised if we find in others that which we think it hard to forgive. 

There is one Christ in whom all believers hope, and one heaven they are all hoping for; therefore they should be of one heart. They had all one faith, as to its object, Author, nature, and power. They all believed the same as to the great truths of religion; they had all been admitted into the church by one baptism, with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, as the sign of regeneration. In all believers God the Father dwells, as in his holy temple, by his Spirit and special grace.

The apostle charged the Ephesians in the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus, that having professed the gospel, they should not be as the unconverted Gentiles, who walked in vain fancies and carnal affections. Do not men, on every side, walk in the vanity of their minds? Must not we then urge the distinction between real and nominal Christians? They were void of all saving knowledge; they sat in darkness, and loved it rather than light. They had a dislike and hatred to a life of holiness, which is not only the way of life God requires and approves, and by which we live to him, but which has some likeness to God himself in his purity, righteousness, truth, and goodness. 

The truth of Christ appears in its beauty and power, when it appears as in Jesus. The corrupt nature is called a man; like the human body, it is of divers parts, supporting and strengthening one another. Sinful desires are deceitful lusts; they promise men happiness, but render them more miserable; and bring them to destruction, if not subdued and mortified. These therefore must be put off, as an old garment, a filthy garment; they must be subdued and mortified. 

But it is not enough to shake off corrupt principles; we must have gracious ones. By the new man, is meant the new nature, the new creature, directed by a new principle, even regenerating grace, enabling a man to lead a new life of righteousness and holiness. This is created, or brought forth by God's almighty power.

Notice the particulars wherewith we should adorn our Christian profession. Take heed of every thing contrary to truth. No longer flatter or deceive others. God's people are children who will not lie, who dare not lie, who hate and abhor lying. Take heed of anger and ungoverned passions. If there is just occasion to express displeasure at what is wrong, and to reprove, see that it be without sin. 

We give place to the devil, when the first motions of sin are not grievous to our souls; when we consent to them; and when we repeat an evil deed. This teaches that as sin, if yielded unto, lets in the devil upon us, we are to resist it, keeping from all appearance of evil. Idleness makes thieves. Those who will not work, expose themselves to temptations to steal. Men ought to be industrious, that they may do some good, and that they may be kept from temptation. They must labour, not only that they may live honestly, but that they may have to give to the wants of others. What then must we think of those called Christians, who grow rich by fraud, oppression, and deceitful practices! Alms, to be accepted of God, must not be gained by unrighteousness and robbery, but by honesty and industry. God hates robbery for burnt-offerings.