Ephesians 5: 1 – 5
Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But fornication and impurity of any kind, or greed, must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints. Entirely out of place is obscene, silly, and vulgar talk; but instead, let there be thanksgiving.  Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure person, or one who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
 
Reflection
Paul is always keen for Christians to follow and obey God.  Here he tells them to imitate God by showing love for others.  We all know the verse in John 3:16 “God so loved the world”.  Not just a few people but the world and everyone in it.
 
Do we limit who we love? What is our feeling towards those who are different to us?  I keep meeting people who are in some ways different.  My wife is disabled and has carers every day.  Yesterday one carer was from Uganda and the other from Ghana. Today the carer was from India. It is so interesting to welcome these people into our home and get to know them.  They have been from a variety of religions, Sikh, Muslim, Christian or nothing at all.  We read about so much antagonism and hatred towards newcomers, but they are part of God’s people.  Most of these “strangers” are keen to ask me questions as they know I am involved with my church.
 
Paul writes about fornication, impurity, greed and vulgar talk and does not approve of this.  It is sometimes said that we should hate the sin but love the sinner and surely this is the right attitude.  We should avoid these sins and instead obey and follow the truth in scripture.
 
I’d suggest that the main problem with those sins is that they set up a barrier between the sinner and God.  The feeling of guilt can make the person be estranged from God.  God still loves them and wants them to change, stop the sinning and turn to Him in thankfulness for their escape from sin. 
 
Let’s all be full of thanksgiving for we know the love of God, and we know that Jesus died to set us free from the power of our sinfulness.
 
 
Prayer
Loving God, we thank You for loving us.
We thank You for sending Jesus to live amongst humankind and show us Your love.
We thank You for the letters of Paul, and others, that tell us how we should live our lives.
We ask that You teach us to follow you and we reject everything in our lives that comes between You and us
Thank You for Your son, Jesus and we pray in His name.
Amen