And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Eph. 4:30-5:2
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 14:34-35
Merciful Father, mighty Holy Spirit, most compassionate Lord Jesus, I praise you today for the love with which you love us, in which you have rooted us, and by which you are transforming us.
It took the whole Trinity to redeem me, and it takes the whole Trinity for me to live this life of love to which you have called us. There’s no other way I could even begin to think about living as an “imitator of God.” So hear my cry.
Father, I don’t want to live today just with a theoretical or theological awareness of being your dearly loved child. Let it be deeply experiential and existential—very real, very humbling, and very liberating. Your great love for your children is the greatest convicting and transforming power this side of the new heaven and new earth.
All day long, let me hear you serenading me in the gospel; rejoicing over me with singing; delighting in me with the felicity of heaven. For this alone will enable be to grieve the ways I grieve the Holy Spirit—with my thoughts, with my words, and with my actions. Apart from the Spirit’s conviction, I will most certainly try to justify the ways I love poorly—blaming it on others.
Lord Jesus, you are so kind, compassionate, and forgiving of me. I want the fragrant aroma of the sacrifice you made for me on the cross to permeate all my relationships today. You’re not calling me to change or fix anybody; instead, you’re calling me to live as a broken perfume bottle, through which the aroma of grace will bring your disruptive and gentling presence wherever I am. So let me live today more out of my brokenness, than out of my desire for competence and efficiency. Actually, there’s nothing efficient about loving well, at all.
God the Holy Spirit—you who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, I look to you to give me the power I will need to rid myself today (as opposed to ignoring, tolerating or nursing) of all bitterness, anger, rage, brawling, slander, and malice and any other way I contradict the gospel. Have mercy, Oh Lord, have mercy on me. May the way I treat people today make the gospel of grace more beautiful and believable. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ peerless and praise-worthy name.
