Ephesians 4:1-6; Psalm 71

Ephesians 4:1-6
In this chapter, Paul takes a look at Christ's "Body," the church. When we put our trust in Christ as our Savior, we became part of the "Body of Christ" which includes all believers everywhere. For practical purposes, we worship in local bodies, and so most of this material is best applied to our local body of believers. After all, we are not easily annoyed by believers who live in Africa or China!

Paul in v. 1 begs us to live lives worthy of our calling--that of God's very own child! Our bad behavior would reflect poorly on Him as well as on other believers. We are to be humble and gentle. Now comes the hard part, "Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love." Not one of us is perfect, and we should always give others the benefit of the doubt assuming the best intentions as much as possible. v. 2  Verse 3 admonishes us, "Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace." I think the key words here are "make every effort." Try not to take harsh or hasty words personally; do not assign unkind motives when we can never truly ascertain another's motives. We are to strive for unity because this is what the Holy Spirit wants. We are one body united through the one Holy Spirit, and we all have the same hope of eternal life because Jesus paid for our sins. "There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all." Let's never let mere annoyances, thoughtless actions, or petty differences cause divisions in the church.

Psalm 71
The anonymous psalmist is speaking from his old age. I can identify with that! "O Lord, you alone are my hope. I've trusted you, O Lord, from childhood...My life is an example to many, because you have been my strength and protection." vv. 5-7 He praised God and asks God not to set him aside in his old age. "Don't abandon me when my strength is failing." vv. 8-9

Every part of our lives has its pitfalls. God alone is truly our only hope. We have no guarantees of anything else. Our friends and family could abandon us (though I hope not!); our health can fail; enemies could devastate our beautiful county; the economy could collapse. I hope none of the above happen, but one thing is for sure, unless Jesus comes back first or we die young, we will all grow old, and we will certainly all die. So where ever we are in life, we must keep depending on God, and we should praise Him more and more and tell everyone about our Sovereign Lord and loving Father.

It's interesting that the fear of old age is nothing new. "Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me." v. 18

Then he ends this psalm with joyous praise. "I will shout for joy and sing your praises, for you have ransomed me." v. 23 I believe there are two kinds of old people: 1) the bitter, complaining, irritable, demanding type and 2) the sweet, gentle, kind and wise type. This psalmist was not a cranky old person; let's follow his example!