Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2, TNIV)
Do you have a favorite golfer you like to follow because of their golf swing, golf game, personality, looks, or faith?
When I first started playing golf, I played nine holes at 6:00 in the morning with my customers from Japan. They would play early every Friday and then go to work after the their nine-hole round. They had such beautiful swings, and I would ask them who they took their golf lessons from. They said, “Ben Hogan.”
I said, “You have to be kidding!”
Then they laughed, saying it was a video. They would continue to tell me they watched the video over and over to replicate the swing. These guys never took a live golf lesson, but they had swings better than most players I have played with.
In today’s passage, Paul encouraged the people in Ephesus to “follow God” and be a living example. By following God’s example, we believers will love each other as Christ showed his love for us. And remember, Jesus died for us!
In the Life Application Bible, you’ll read a footnote to this passage that says: “Just as children imitate their parent, we should follow God’s example. His great love for us led him to sacrifice himself so that we might live. Our love for others should be the same kind—a love that goes beyond affection to self-sacrificing service.”
How can we learn to do this? Maybe like my friends watching the golf video over and over again, we have to read God’s word over and over again. Certainly repetition of proven practices gets us ready for the game. So we need to study and pray and engage in edifying fellowship and serve one another. Then we will become an example to our friends on and off the golf course of God’s love.
One of my favorite Christian songs is the old classic, “They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love” (though I especially enjoy the newer rendition by Jars of Clay). It’s a song that echoes Jesus’ words in John 13:35. Walking in the way of love, as Paul called it, is exactly what I enjoy seeing most in our Links Fellowships, where men and women of Christ reach out to those who really need it—whether believers in the Fellowship or unbelievers “far from the truth.” And here’s why I love it: we don’t really know how far away someone is. The love we show them now may be the very act that flips the switch of recognition. When people finally see Jesus, they respond in repentance and rebirth. What a wonderful prize when we “pay the price” of walking in love!
—
Dereck Wong
January 12, 2012
Copyright © 2012 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday through Friday at www.linksplayers.com.