Walk in Love

 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma (Eph 5:1-2 NAS95).

Having instructed the Ephesians to walk in their new life, Paul now gives them the motivation that makes that possible. He tells them to walk in love. We are to imitate Christ’s love, a sacrificial love.

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us (1Jn 4:16-19 NAS95).

If you can learn to trust in God’s love for you, you will have no problem imitating His love. Once you know that you are secure in Christ, love will flow out from you with thankfulness and a desire to act in kind. This principle is stated succinctly by John: “We love, because He first loved us.” Regeneration changes our hearts, giving us a capacity to love.

Practicing a sacrificial lifestyle will confirm this truth. Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom 12:1-2 NAS95).

Notice the last part of Romans 12:2. It says living sacrificially will prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. What is the will of God for you? 

"Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. "You are My friends if you do what I command you (Joh 15:9-14 NAS95).

Child of God, walk in love. Amen.