The Attitude of the Redeemed

Ephesians. 5: 1 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 

12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 

These two verses are in the same chapter, the same instruction from Ephesians 5.  Because we are to “imitate God”, there are things that we don’t do.  The Apostle Paul said that all things were legal for him but all things weren’t profitable.  Verse 1 here sounds a little like performance but it is really speaking of a lifestyle from a release from within us.  I’m finding in my Walk that more and more it is about a release from within.  The answer for victorious living comes from a release of the Jesus man within us.  Too often we think of doing the right thing as making a decision to act in a foreign manner that is opposed to or nature. Actually, as “born again” children of God, we are now equipped to live the God life.  It is now closer to normal for us to act righteously. The more we live by the Spirit from within, the God life becomes more fluid with less effort.  Then the sinful practices stand out more vividly when they happen around us.  We must be careful when that happens because when we see sinful practices that are illuminated in others we have a great temptation to judge them and feel better than they.  This is the place where we are “in the world but not of the world.”  Even to the point, as verse 12 says, “it is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.” For a believer to speak of sinful practices of the ungodly is a kind of judging and a type of hypocrisy.  If we feel a sense of enjoyment in sharing it we are demonstrating a modern day Pharisee-ism.  Jesus tells the story in Luke 18 of a Pharisee who said, “ 'I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don't cheat, I don't sin, and I don't commit adultery. I'm certainly not like that tax collector!” Jesus tells this story as a rebuke for such thinking.  Silence can be a great act of faith and obedience.  Silence may contain resistance to judgment and condemnation.  It may contain a deep appreciation for what Jesus has done for us and a compassion for those who haven’t yet found redemption.  The redeemed are filled with gratitude and not self-righteousness.