Life Rules/New ways

The title of this post has two meanings. Life rules because life is awesome and life rules as in rules to live by. These aren't rules I am giving you to live by, I would never give any of you rules to live by, that would not be fair. I have no place to give you all any sort of rules to live by.

What I am sharing with you tonight is a couple of verses, from Ephesians chapter 4 that encourage my on a daily basis. My hope is that once you see these verses is that you can be encouraged by them too.

In Ephesians chapter 4, Paul writes a letter about the new life that we get to experience with Christ. Paul writes that we need to put off our old self, which beings to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires. Pauls instructs us by saying that we need to put on our new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

The next part is what I love the most. There are 7 verses in Ephesians chapter 4 that have 7 topics that are very applicable to our daily lives...hence the title life rules.

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of your speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 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. (Ephesians 4:25-32)

I think the most distinguishable way to make these "life rules" know would be to make a list. Now that I think about it, calling them a new way to live might sound even better.

Life rules/New way to live

- let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another

- be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger

- give no opportunity to the devil

- let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need

- let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear

- 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

I hope this list is as encouraging to you as it is to me everyday. There are some amazing and encouraging things in there and my hope is that you can become aware of these things and try some of these things out.

Picture a world where everyone speaks truth to each other, imagine everyone not being angry when the sun goes down, think about if everyone was doing honest work with their own hands, so that we can share the good things that are done, picture a world where there is no corrupt talk, but only talk that is good for building up, and imagine all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and sander being put away from you, and lastly, imagine everyone being kind to one another, tenderhearted, and forgiving to one another, just as Christ forgave us.