Devotion - Tuesday, January 22

This morning's reading from Ephesians 4:17-32 encouraged me to continue a thought raised in yesterday's offering.  I had spoken of morality and how the drive to be moral can supplant the call to be a person of faith.  Being a person of faith makes one a moral person; but it does make you one.

Paul speaks of the difference between followers of Jesus and those whom he refers to as "the Gentiles."  He says of the Gentiles that "they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God." 

"Alienated from the life of God."  This phrase reveals to me what is different about those who are in Christ.  We know that we live in God; we understand that our life is from God; and we strive to live in such a way as to not become alienated from God.

Will God forsake me if I fail the morality test?  That is not the question to be asked.  The question I ask myself is whether I am as fully connected to the life of God as I can be.  I do not fear that God will condemn me; I worry that I will slowly allow my understanding to become darkened.  I am concerned that I will fool myself into thinking I can say uncharitable things about my neighbor and then go on basking in the light of God's life.  Of course this cannot happen.

Our sense of morality rises out of an appreciation of how wonderful it is to live in God and to have God live in us.  We strive to do the right thing, because we understand that we have been "created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."   (Ephesians 4)

When I say hurtful things about my neighbor I am separating myself from the life that I desire, the new life which God has made possible for me.  It is a crisis of faith, not a lapse in my moral fiber.