LOVE BY COMPARISON
Ephesians 5:1-5
In English class, we learn that a simile is a figure of speech used to make comparisons using the words as and like, words that occur nearly ninety times in the book of Proverbs. That book is filled with comparisons between wisdom and folly. For example, Proverbs 25:28 says, “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls” (emphasis added).
Similes occur in the New Testament as well, especially when comparing our behavior to God’s behavior. For example, when saying we should “walk in love,” Paul uses two similes to explain how. We are to forgive “as God in Christ forgave [us],” (Ephesians 4:32), and we are to “walk in love, as Christ also has loved us” (Ephesians 5:2). We are to compare our forgiveness and love to the forgiveness and love of God in Christ. We are to love sacrificially as Christ gave “Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). And sacrifice involves a cost, a price to pay.
Love is not cheap, especially love of enemies. Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. This is Jesus Christ Himself speaking here to the disciples. Make a point to love and forgive someone today the way God loves and forgives you. To love to preach is one thing—to love those to whom we preach, quite another.
PRAYER: O Lord help me to manifest your love that has been shed abroad in my heart to everyone in Jesus name.
