Stealing is no longer an option for the follower of Christ.  Stealing books from a library, stealing merchandise from a store, stealing money from a relative, friend, or stranger is not an option.

What is to replace stealing?
(NASB) Ephesians 4:28 “He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good…”

Work, (labor) is good…wages earn money for food, clothing, shelter… “He who steals must steal no longer…”

Why is work important in your life?  The obvious answer is to supply your needs and perhaps your “wants”.  It is also important in another way:
(NASB) Ephesians 4:28 “…but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.”

To whom can you give money to help them in their need?
Christmas is a time when generosity abounds…Christmas is but a memory, but giving to others should not be “but a memory”…there are still needs to be met…through your generosity, through your giving.

Stealing…Working…Giving is a progression which the followers of Christ mature in their faith as they walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Who do you know who needs your financial help?

To be angry and yet…not sin, is to exhibit self-control…self-control for the follower of Christ is a godly characteristic.
When anger controls you…you are giving the devil an opportunity to wreak havoc.
How often have you had to do damage control after you have exhibited anger?

A quick-tempered man displays folly (See Proverbs 14:29).
Being friends and associating with people given to anger or are hot-tempered – may result in you learning the same behavior.  What are you teaching your children?                 (See Proverbs 22:24-25)

Another warning we should pay attention to: the anger of people does not achieve the righteousness of God.  (See James 1:19-20)

What are some benefits of self-control over your anger?
You will not have to agonize over words you have said in anger, you may even sleep better…you will have better mental health, your emotions will be in control (instead of them controlling you), your physical health may even benefit.
You will have relationships which are not severed or hurt because people will respond to you differently when they don’t dread or fear your reaction.

According to Proverbs 14:29, when you are slow to anger you will have great understanding.

(NASB) James 1:19-20 “…But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
²⁰ for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

To find favor in the eyes of God, each person needs to be in a right relationship to Him.  That comes through Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.  That comes through keeping short accounts of your sins – asking His forgiveness for specific sins in your life.  That is why each person needs Jesus as their Savior…He saves us from our sins.

Anger…What do you do with it?

(NASB) Ephesians 4:25 “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.”

What words, what thoughts, do I speak and think which are falsehoods?  Do I excuse my words and actions and so lie to myself?

To speak truth to others – aren’t we to be honest with ourselves and with God?  And the “reasons” I come up with which “let me off the hook” are not honest.

Consider how you should pray with honesty as you go before the living God of the Bible.

1. Ask for understanding where you are speaking/thinking falsehoods regarding your own words, your own actions and your own motives.
2. Seek God’s forgiveness for pointing an accusing finger at another – most likely you are doing the very same thing.  (Frustration, anger, resentment, what causes you to point your finger at another?)
3. Ask the LORD God to help you be honest with Him and with yourself.
4. Find favor in the eyes of God by agreeing with Him and His word…and speak truth, even to yourself…for His word is truth.
5. Pray in the name of Jesus, for He is “the way, the truth and the life”…for you.
6. Have you thanked the LORD for hearing your prayer?

Shouldn’t the followers of Christ be listening…be teachable…as the truth is in Christ Jesus?  How have you learned Christ?  (See Ephesians 4:20)

(NASB) Ephesians 4:21 “if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
²² that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit…”

OLD SELF
Corrupted!  Lusts of deceit!  Ugly picture is it not?  That nature that we had before we received Jesus into our lives as our Savior…that “old self” that demanded its way, so our wants would be fulfilled.
Are you continuing to live in that way today?

NEW SELF
+Renewed!  In the spirit of your mind!  Thinking thoughts which are godly…for you seek God and His ways.
+Consciously putting on the “new self” – you have been given God’s Holy Spirit – followers of Christ are being renewed in the likeness of God Himself.  Are you cooperating with Him?
+Created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Listening to Christ Jesus – being taught by the Lord Jesus Christ – His truth!
Skeptics and nay-sayers will make fun, deride and demean such thinking.  They too will stand before the God of the Holy Bible and give an account…(See Revelation 20:11-15)

Followers of Christ – what is controlling you today?  Your old self…or your new self created in Christ Jesus?

If you have not asked Jesus into your life as your Savior…you can, right now.  A help for you to talk with God, click on Resources, then click on God’s Plan of Salvation under Bible Studies.

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.”

WITHOUT GOD
*All people have been without God at one time in their lives – until they ask Jesus to be their Savior.
*Thinking is futile; it is useless, without faith in the living God of the Bible.
*Understanding is darkened…light of the Lord Jesus Christ is not understood.
*Exclusion from the life of God because of willful ignorance of not knowing Him.
*Hardness of heart toward God and His truth.
*Callousness is without sensitiveness toward God.
*Practice of sensuality and every kind of impurity with greediness.
That is quite a list…and I did not make it up…
go to Ephesians 4:17-19.

(NASB) Ephesians 4:20

“But you did not learn Christ in this way.”

WITH GOD
*Learn Christ’s way…to find favor with God is to follow Christ as your Savior and Lord.

(Tomorrow this devotional will explore Christ’s way.)

Children, all children, need to mature – to grow up – and leave childishness behind.
Children vacillate, are easily tossed about by differing ideas and teachings which are not from God.  (This is why it is important to know what God says in the Holy Bible.)
Children are easily tricked, deluded by people who are sneaky, crafty, deceitful and scheming and thus they are ensnared.

When I grow up…in Christ – I am to speak the truth of God in love.  Godly love does not sweep difficult situations “under the rug” and hope those situations will go away…they won’t!

When I grow up in Christ – He is my authority, He is the head of His body the church.  The church are those who believe in Christ as their Savior and follow Him…not man’s teachings.

When I grow up in Christ – I am to do the work He calls me to do by building up the body of Christ, the church, in love…godly love.  Godly love takes the responsibility of agreeing with all of God’s word, not parts of it.
(See Ephesians 4:14-16)

As you grow up…are you growing in Christ?

Noah had matured in a manner pleasing to the LORD.  Are you pleasing to the LORD?  What does God say about maturing, about growing up after becoming a follower of Christ Jesus?
* Exercise the gifts He has given you.
* Be teachable, learning what the LORD teaches through His word, the Holy Bible.
* Becoming equipped for the work the LORD calls you to do.
* Build up the body (believers in Christ as Savior) of Christ.
* And be continuing to attain the unity of faith, the knowledge of the Son of God…this is a life-long process of maturing and growing.
* All of this maturation process is to continue until we attain oneness in the faith.
(See Ephesians 4:7-8, 11-13)

Growth can be painful…ask a teen-ager.  Learning new responsibilities in a job, becoming ‘one’ with your spouse…ect. is a maturation process.

Growing and maturing as a child of God will not be without pain.

Our natures want to justify our hurtful words and actions; we find “reasons” for the wrong things we do.  Our defensive words and thoughts protect us, or at least we try to protect ourselves.

Maturity is a growth process…teen-agers can be well on the road to spiritual maturity while people in their 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and even older are stunted in their maturation process because of not looking to God’s word and agreeing with Him.

Honesty…with yourself and with God, is the first step toward spiritual maturity.

Of what do you and I need to be reminded about other believers in the Lord Jesus Christ?
(NASB) Ephesians 4:4-6 “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;
⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
⁶ one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”

The followers of Christ are one in the believing body of the church.
(NASB) Romans 12:5 “so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

The Holy Spirit of God lives in each believer.
(NASB) 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 “Now He (God) who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God,
²² who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.”

Believers in Christ as their Savior have one hope
(NASB) Colossians 1:27 “…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The LORD God IS One – there is only one faith, there is only one baptism, there is only one God and Father of the followers of Christ Jesus.

The God and Father is sovereign over His children, the followers of Christ.  He is in all followers of Christ.

Only one…all believers in the Lord Jesus are one…we are united through our relationship to Jesus and to the Father through the power of His Holy Spirit living in us.
Are there relationships with other believers you need to make right?  For we are one in Christ and we are to diligently preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (See Ephesians 4:3)

The followers of Christ are called to live a life which pleases the LORD…we are to “live a life worthy of the calling…” we have received. (See Ephesians 4:1)  We, also, are to find “favor in the eyes of the LORD”.

How are we to live in order to please God…this God of the Bible Who is perfect?  We are not perfect…but God sees us through the filter of Jesus Christ.  We need Jesus in our lives…have you received Him as your Savior?

What does God’s word tell you about living as His child, as a follower of Christ?

The following list is from Ephesians 4:2-3:
Humility: yielded to God and living life His way.

Gentleness: use controlled strength.  Gentleness is not mushy softness.  Consider the following illustration: to be gentle with an active, wiggling two year old – you would use controlled strength to lovingly hold that child from harm.

Patience: choosing to be patient when you are eager to act.

Tolerance for one another: when God is the Father and Jesus is the Savior of people we are to love those people…even when we may not agree on all points of doctrine.  But it is important that we have the same basic belief in the Savior, Jesus Christ…it is through Him alone anyone can be saved…there is no other way.  (See Romans 10:8-11)

Bond of peace: God never says ‘peace at any price’ but we are to preserve unity among believers in Jesus Christ and we are to do that by using the super glue of peace.

What do these actions show?  Self has to be put aside to please God:
*In how we live our lives
*In how we respond to other believers

God’s word admonishes us to

Live In a Manner Pleasing to God.