walk in love: ephesians 5:1-20

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. ~Ephesians 5:1-2 (NASB) One of my favorite I Love Lucy episodes is the one where Lucy tries to avoid being caught imitating Harpo Marx by imitating him as if she were a mirror image of him. She has to focus every fiber of her being on him so she’s in tune with his actions. It’s hysterical (if you love Lucy), but it’s also a vivid picture of what it’s like to follow an example–not just spout the words. Therefore, Paul tells us (what’s the therefore there for?), we aren’t to live or dress up like the dark and disobedient, but we’re to put on the new self...

when you’re breadless, broken, and bitter

  Breadless in Bethlehem. The House of Bread battled famine. Yet though she was hungry, Naomi felt full. She had her loved ones. Elimelech, whose name meant “my God is king,” packed up his wife and two sickly sons. They traveled 30 miles to a foreign land to greener pastures. Away from family. Away from friends. Away from the land of promise. In a sense, away from God. To Moab. Where idols ruled. Not that far in terms of distance. But a million miles in terms of heart. Elimelech died shortly after the family arrived in Moab. The sons married Moabite girls. And then the boys died. Naomi faced life as a widow alone. Without her girlfriends back in Bethlehem. Broke and heartbroken. Empty in a fertile land. Except for her daughters-in-law. Then Naomi...