Today's reading is from Ephesians chapter 4 verse 17 to chapter 5 verse 2.
Starting in verse 17 we read, the new life.
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do,
in the frutility of their minds.
They are darkened in the understanding, alienated from the life of God,
because of the ignorance that is in them.
Due to their hardness of heart, they have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality,
greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
But this is not the way you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him,
as the truth is in Jesus.
To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life,
and is corrupt through deceitful desires.
But to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
and to put on your new self,
created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Therefore, having put away falsehood,
let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor,
for we are members one of another.
Be angry and do not sin.
Do not let the sun go down on your anger,
and give no opportunity to the devil.
Let the thief no longer steal,
but rather let him labor,
doing honest work with his own hands,
so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths,
but only such as is good for building up,
as fits the occasion,
that he may give grace to those who hear,
and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
by whom you are sealed for the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander
be put away from you,
along with all malice.
Be kind to one another,
tenderhearted,
forgiving one another,
as God in Christ forgave you.
Therefore,
be imitatis of God,
as beloved children,
and walk in love,
as Christ loved us,
and gave himself up for us,
a frequent offering and sacrifice to God.
This is the word of God.
All right.
Thank you, Margo,
for that warm introduction,
and thank you, Kevin,
for that introduction.
So, again,
my name is Margo.
I'm part of Oasis CG.
I'm also working with Young Life right now,
and part of my identity is also as a Hong Konger,
and I don't know if you know Hong Kongers,
what do we love to drink?
Ice lemon tea.
And, of course,
you know,
being health conscious as I am,
I always ask for less ice and less sugar,
right?
And, you know,
growing up,
that's like my favorite drink,
right?
Ice lemon tea.
And I really,
really wanted to have an ice cream,
which was just like ice lemon tea.
And so one day,
when I was a small child,
I remember I was walking with my parents in Beijing,
we're traveling,
and I walk across the store,
and then this store was selling like ice cream,
I think,
and then it said lime sherbet.
And I was like lime equals lemon,
okay?
Sherbet,
kind of like ice cream,
I guess.
And so I was like spending 10 minutes just like begging my parents,
like,
please,
I really,
really want this lime sherbet.
Like,
please,
mom,
like,
please,
dad.
And my parents were like,
ah,
like,
I don't think so.
Like,
hey,
you know,
we're in a hurry.
But then like after,
you know,
a huge tantrum,
they're like,
okay,
here's your lime sherbet.
Okay,
like,
be happy.
And I was like the happiest kid in the world.
And when I put that lime sherbet in my mouth,
I realized it tasted nothing like ice lemon tea.
It was like a sour bomb had went off in my mouth.
And I realized I was like,
I was crying.
I was like,
oh my gosh,
this is so bad.
And my parents,
you know,
being good parents,
they're like,
no,
you must finish your lime sherbet.
Right?
And so I was probably like the saddest looking kid in the world,
like eating lime sherbet out in the street.
And people were probably like really confused.
And the thing is like,
and the reason I tell this story is because,
I think sometimes we have this expectation of like what it is.
Right?
But in versus the reality of this.
And I think often Paul paints in Ephesians and then kind of the passage we're just reading,
how the church is such a beautiful church.
You know,
people are changing.
People are transforming.
People are growing.
You know,
people are no longer stealing,
but are now like generous to one another,
like all these amazing things.
And you know,
sometimes,
sometimes we do feel like that.
Right?
We feel like,
man,
we're growing.
You know,
I feel like,
you know,
some people in my CG was just saying recently,
like they feel like,
wow,
they've like really been changing in the past few months.
And wow,
that's amazing.
That's great to hear.
But sometimes it's also,
it feels like,
you know,
church doesn't necessarily meet the expectation of what that is.
It isn't always perfect.
You might feel like,
oh,
I remember sometimes,
you know,
you speak truth and love.
It completely backfires.
Right?
You feel like,
man,
the church could be doing so much more.
Like you're really passionate about evangelism,
about serving young people,
but you know,
other people aren't there yet.
And maybe you feel like,
wow,
church is great.
You know,
I know a lot of people,
but I feel like,
you know,
it's not,
I don't feel like I'm like,
can be super vulnerable around these people.
And even for myself,
I remember when I was leading CG,
where this one session,
I was like,
it was just me and this other guy.
And I was like,
dang,
like maybe we need to close down our CG.
Right?
And it's like,
sometimes it's hard.
And I think here in Ephesians,
Paul talks about,
you know,
this cosmic plan of Christ,
adoption to the gospel,
all these really great things.
And then there's this perfect,
loving community church.
But then there seems to be somewhere,
there's like a gap in between.
Right?
And that's where we're going to go today.
And here,
Paul tells us in today's passage,
that we can only have this loving church.
We can only love others
by the daily renewal
of our identity
as God's new creation.
Okay,
let me repeat this.
So Paul tells us
that we can really only love each other
through the daily renewal
of our identity
as God's creation.
And he starts off
with our hardened hearts.
Right?
In verse 17,
18,
he paints this picture
of our old life.
What were we like before?
You know,
our old minds,
our old hearts.
And the key idea
in verse 18
is that,
you know,
our hearts,
all these issues
from our life
actually came down
from our hardened hearts.
And that basically just means
like our hearts
were like stone
and it progressively hardens
and, you know,
no matter what other people say,
like we're just not going
to listen to them.
And it progressively develops.
Right?
So this hardened heart,
you know,
leads to us being ignorant
of how we can live life,
ignorant of how we can love others well.
And it leads to being alienated
from God
and also ends up
us being stuck
in these loops of sin,
these patterns of sin
that we feel like
we can't get out of.
I remember when I was
a teenager,
actually,
I feel like I was always
stuck in these patterns of sin.
Right?
I remember
myself,
I was a super prideful kid,
you know,
always trying to seek
external validation,
you know,
trying to get the highest grade,
trying to compare myself
with other people.
My heart
was just so hard.
I was just captured
by this idea that,
man,
I needed to achieve
a lot of things
so that I would have value.
And I remember
I was just being a huge jerk
and this heart,
you know,
led to me just behaving
like really poorly
and just like treating
my friends really poorly.
I remember belittling them,
belittling them,
you know,
trash talking,
you know,
as all good
like teenage boys do.
And yeah,
I remember,
you know,
in my cringiest moment
where I was in math class
and we're just like
trash talking to each other
and I remember
I was like,
okay,
it sounds better
in Chinese,
trust me,
but I was like,
you know,
who is the idiot
and who is the genius?
And I was telling a friend
and I was like,
the class was like silent
and I was like,
for a split moment,
I was like,
yeah,
I got him.
And then I realized
that actually I was
the biggest idiot
in the room,
right?
And so,
it was like all these things
that I was like
treating my friends
really poorly.
I was stuck in this loop
and I felt the consequences.
You know,
I didn't feel
like I was any better.
I constantly felt stressed
and it was like,
no matter what I did,
I couldn't get out
of this loop.
I couldn't,
through my own new insights,
get out of these behaviors
and whenever someone told me,
like,
hey,
you know,
when I went to church sometimes,
like,
people were like,
oh,
you know,
love your friends,
okay,
like,
okay,
and then I would find ways
to change my behavior
a little bit
but it feels like
I'm still stuck,
right?
I would,
like,
find other ways
to,
like,
trash talk my friends
and,
yeah,
you know,
even now,
like,
God's redeemed my heart
and it's great
but sometimes these old patterns
of sin still exist,
right?
And it's not just like,
and Paul doesn't talk about,
oh,
just one or two sins,
it's all our sins,
right?
And maybe for you,
it's status,
right?
Security.
Maybe it's prestige,
you know,
finding approval
from others,
like,
there's these things
that kind of hook
into our hearts
and we feel like,
man,
sometimes we're just stuck
in these loops
and that's why I think
Paul reminds us,
right,
as Corinthians,
that actually we can't
lift ourselves up,
you know,
we as flawed people,
we can't use our own knowledge,
our own strength
to lift ourselves up.
Actually,
what we need
is a new heart,
right?
Like,
with our,
I don't know if you guys
ever experienced this
but,
you know,
when I was a teenager,
my mom was always like,
oh,
you know,
clean your bed,
pack your room
and I was like,
yeah,
okay,
mom,
okay,
mom,
but it would just go
from one year
to out of the other year
or like,
I mean,
unpopular colleague
said something
or unpopular boss
said something,
you're like,
yeah,
okay,
but then it kind of
just like goes
from one year
out of the other year,
right?
Like,
our hearts
are so hardened
that,
you know,
even though like
people give us
new advice,
new ideas,
it's like hard for us
and even if you look
at humanity,
like,
I used to work
for a humanitarian
organization
and I think
as a collective,
like,
we've come so far,
you know,
we've had so much progress
but if you just look
at the news today,
racism,
war,
suffering,
it seems like
we're stuck in these
like old patterns,
right?
Like,
no matter how hard
we try,
we can't get out
and I'm all for,
you know,
podcasts,
you know,
I'm the podcast person
or like self-help books,
I love those,
you know,
don't get me wrong,
go for it,
read it,
but those aren't
going to dramatically
change our hearts,
change our lives
and what we need,
Paul,
thankfully,
you know,
doesn't just leave us here
like,
oh,
okay,
good luck,
you know,
he uses the word
but,
which is,
you know,
one of Paul's
favorite words
and he tells us
in the next section
that actually what we need
is this constant renewal
in our new identity
and verse 20,
it talks about how,
hey,
our minds are no longer,
you know,
the old minds
no longer darkened,
we've now learned
Christ,
I want to pause here
for a moment,
what does it mean by,
oh,
we're just learned Christ,
you know,
it's actually not about
just,
obviously,
it's great,
the teaching of Jesus
is great,
knowledge,
new knowledge
that Jesus gives us,
amazing,
but the key thing
is actually our goal
as Christians,
as apprentices to Jesus,
is to become like Jesus,
our goal is not
to have new knowledge
and that helps
with how we live our life,
our goal is to become
like Jesus
and in verses 22,
he talks about how
we put on our old self,
you know,
our self that was corrupting,
that was degenerating
and this is a beautiful image
and he said,
we said yes to Jesus already,
we put on this new self
and so even for those
who haven't said yes to Jesus,
that's totally okay,
you know,
he's inviting you every day
and so this is a process
that's already happened,
right,
putting off the old self,
putting on the new self
but why does Paul remind us
even though it's already happened,
right,
and it's because we often forget
and we need this daily renewal,
it's like a person,
you know,
needing to have food
every single day
or a plant needing nutrients,
we need renewal
as verse 23 talks about,
our mind needs constant renewal
and while we cannot earn it,
we cannot earn our faith,
we cannot earn our salvation,
daily renewal requires effort,
okay,
let me repeat this,
so our faith,
our walk with Jesus,
while it cannot be earned,
requires effort in our walk,
now I don't become
a better apprentice to Jesus,
I don't become a better Christian
just from sitting on Sunday service
and just like passively absorbing
what the preacher is saying,
we need to work in our faith,
right,
and a lot of it actually is about,
you know,
what the Bible calls like
spiritual disciplines
or what we can call today
as like daily habits,
right,
habits like God's word,
listening to God's word,
prayer,
you know,
solitude,
silence,
all these good things
or even like engaging
in a community
that challenges you
but still loves you,
right,
there's all these like
great habits,
things that we can renew ourselves
in God every day
and if that sounds hard,
it's because it is,
right,
21st century,
we are in this hyper-connected society
where we always need to be
on top of the news,
we're always checking up
on what's our favorite sports team doing,
how,
yeah,
maybe checking our emails
quite a lot
and we feel like,
you know,
we're constantly needing
to be on top of things
and so I want to present you
kind of two scenarios.
First scenario is,
I don't know what you do
when you wake up in the morning
but I think for most of us,
we,
you know,
check our phones,
right,
whether that's in the bathroom
or like somewhere else.
You're just doing your daily routine
and you're like,
you know,
checking your emails,
going social media
or like reading the news
and there's always something
that maybe annoys you
or like triggers you
or like just gives you anxiety
like,
wow,
this world is like
not a great place,
right,
and versus scenario two
where,
you know,
you're still doing
your morning routine
but you're just spending
10 minutes,
10 minutes
just reading the word of God
and sometimes,
you know,
it doesn't penetrate
super deeply
but that's okay,
right,
you're reading about
God's steadfast love
and just like reminding yourself
like,
okay,
yeah,
I'm a child of God
and you have this small
sense of peace
and then you get out
the door,
you know,
in these two scenarios,
you both get out the door,
you run to the MTR,
right,
because we're always
in a hurry in Hong Kong
and you come across
your first battle of the day,
a slow walker,
right,
and you're like,
okay,
if you think about it,
in which of these two scenarios
are you going to have
the most patience
with the slow walker,
right,
and I'm always guilty of it,
right,
I'm always like,
oh,
trying to just like
get across them really quickly,
like,
why can't you walk faster,
right,
and it's like,
wow,
actually,
what I realized is,
and what Paul is saying
is that behavior change
comes from a heart
and our mind transformation,
right,
and actually,
the battle is already lost
how you started the day,
you know,
the battle isn't
in that MTR slow walker
or in that office space
where you have this
really annoying colleague
that,
you know,
that constantly talks,
it's actually won
or lost in the morning,
right,
how are we spending our time
feeding our minds
and feeding our hearts?
We have a choice,
actually,
we're not just passive people,
you know,
mindlessly absorbing
social media,
mindlessly absorbing technology
where we can choose
what we can feed
in our hearts
and our minds
and we need this
constant renewal,
reminding of this new identity
in God's creation
and as a psychology major,
I love looking at just research,
reading books
and actually research
has also shown that,
you know,
behavior change
comes from change
in our identity,
right,
and that's why every day
we actually need
the daily renewal
of our new identity.
Who are we really?
Am I just a office worker?
Am I just a younger brother?
I'm actually a new creation
as well,
right,
and it's hard
because,
you know,
I think Paul used the idea
of like new clothes
and old clothes.
You know,
even though our new clothes
fit really well,
you know,
are probably more practical,
aren't as worn,
don't have holes,
there's something more comfortable
about wearing these
like old clothes.
Like I have this camp t-shirt
from like 10 years ago
that I just keep wearing
from my pajamas.
Like,
I should probably throw that out.
It's probably not very,
not very great.
But it's like,
yeah,
there's something about
these old clothes
that we feel more comfortable in.
And that's why
Paul constantly
asks us to renew ourselves
so that we don't forget.
And moving on,
Paul,
you know,
in the next verse,
right,
he uses the word therefore.
You know,
another of Paul's favorite words,
therefore.
And what does he do here
when he talks about,
you know,
the next section,
how do we love each other well?
He connects actually
the vertical dimension,
like our relationship with God
with the horizontal,
which is how we love each other well.
And he wants us to,
he wants to point out
kind of the insight,
which is,
actually for a lot of us,
how we love each other well
depends on how our relationship
is secure in God.
Are we being renewed
in his identity every day?
Right?
We can't force ourselves
to change our behavior
through willpower alone.
It might work for a while,
but it won't last.
Right?
He's telling us that,
wow,
we need to renew ourselves
in God every day
so that we can love each other.
And how do we love each other?
Well,
we model ourselves
after Christ.
And I think the really cool thing
is here Paul talks about
it's no longer just,
you know,
avoiding sin.
And,
you know,
sometimes we're like,
I don't know if you heard,
like,
oh,
you know,
rules of life.
It's like,
okay,
just don't be a jerk.
Don't be,
don't be a bad person,
right?
That's how you should live life.
Like,
okay,
you can do anything else,
but just don't be a jerk.
Right?
Actually,
Paul doesn't say that.
He says,
actually,
you know,
we have to no longer sin
and love each other.
Right?
In verse 24,
25,
sorry,
he says,
you know,
we no longer lie,
but speak the truth.
We no longer steal,
but we're being generous
with each other.
29,
no longer gossip,
but say words
that really encourage each other.
No,
31,
no longer be bitter,
replace it with tender heartedness
and forgiveness.
And so the idea is,
we're just no,
we're not just no longer sinning.
We're trying to love each other.
And actually,
Paul has this really great insight
into our behavior.
See,
we,
the tricky thing is,
we can't replace
our sinful behavior
with nothing.
It's like,
for example,
I don't know,
sometimes I tell myself,
like,
okay,
Marco,
like,
today,
you need to stop using your phone so much.
You've been on your phone too much.
So I keep telling myself that.
And I'm like,
okay,
no,
but you stop to carry your phone around
because it's,
you need to communicate with other people.
And so,
you know,
you go about your day,
you're at a bank,
you know,
lining up to ATM
or you're in a bathroom
with nothing to do.
And what do we do?
We pull out our phones,
right?
Automatically.
I'm like,
on social media
and I'm like,
I catch myself.
Five minutes later,
I'm like,
okay,
what did I just do?
And it's like,
when we tell ourselves
not to do something
but don't replace it with something,
we automatically go back
to that old thing
that we're doing.
And so,
for us,
it's,
we can only substitute
a sinful behavior,
a sinful act
with a loving act.
That's the only way it works.
And what does that look like today?
Well,
for example,
I don't know about you guys,
but during the fifth wave,
I was complaining quite a lot
about,
you know,
government policies,
COVID policies,
whatnot.
Instead of doing that,
let's pray for the government,
right?
Instead of ghosting conflicts,
which is super easy
to do these days,
you know,
just don't respond
in a phone text.
Engage in conflict.
Engage in a loving way.
Instead of feeling bitter
that other people
aren't where you are,
like,
man,
like,
church could be doing
so much more,
like,
man,
we could be serving the poor,
we could be serving
these communities,
we could be doing more.
Having that patience,
right?
Instead of doing that,
having that patience,
being inviting,
instead of being bitter.
And this is maybe,
this is also a really tricky one.
Because I think so often
we want to present ourselves,
you know,
as spiritually good.
You know,
we're all,
like,
not that,
oh,
we're perfect,
but like,
oh,
you know,
we're kind of,
like,
put together,
right?
Sometimes you go to church,
people ask,
like,
how are you doing?
You say,
good,
you know,
and that's kind of,
like,
how the conversation goes.
But it's like,
yeah,
it's super easy,
right?
Just to,
like,
have that facade
and just say,
okay,
you know,
things are going okay.
And you know what?
Sometimes you are doing good.
That's totally cool.
But I think a lot of times also,
and I think we're all
going to get there,
we're going to experience
that one way or another.
It's like,
we're just spiritually dry.
Right?
We feel like,
oh,
okay,
I've been,
like,
pouring out,
or work has been so hard,
and I just feel like
disconnected from God.
I feel like,
okay,
I haven't been reading my Bible
for, like,
three weeks.
It's like,
yeah,
things are tough.
And I think the temptation
is just to stay
at things are tough,
but also,
like,
okay,
I'll deal with this alone,
right?
I think in Chinese,
we say,
oh,
we don't want to bother
other people with our problems.
But I think here,
what Paul is also saying,
it's like,
hey,
let's not lie to each other,
right?
Let's actually just be honest.
Hey,
where are we at right now?
And the really cool thing is,
you know,
Jesus didn't come for the healthy,
right?
He came for the sick.
And the church isn't a place
actually full of
super healthy people.
The church is actually
a hospital of people
who are just working
out their faith.
Doesn't that,
like,
a beautiful imagery
of what the church is like?
Wouldn't that be amazing
if, like,
we're all doing all this?
You know,
we're all changing.
You know,
we're all, like,
trying to figure out
what does it mean
to be an apprentice to Jesus
in the 21st century?
You know,
working out their faith,
being vulnerable,
speaking truth and love,
even though, like,
there will be setbacks.
Like,
we're all going to keep growing
that way.
Now,
if all of that sounds hard,
it's because it is,
it is hard,
right?
It's just like going to the gym.
You know,
you don't start off
like the rock.
Or it's like,
you know,
behavior change is hard.
And loving is also
actually hard,
right?
We feel like sometimes
we're in this comfort zone
and it's,
yeah,
it's just nicer
to stay in this comfort area
without going out.
We feel like,
you know,
when we love other people,
you know,
you send a text like,
hey,
you know,
how's it going?
Other people don't respond.
You're like,
oh,
okay,
fine.
I don't know what's going on.
But a lot of people
don't love back
the same way
that you might love
other people,
right?
And it feels like,
oh,
you know what?
It's just easier
not to like,
take that extra step
and like,
ask how they're doing.
And I think opening up
also means,
you know,
loving other people
also means caring.
And that means
you're also going to
have a chance
of being disappointed,
right?
Whether that's,
you know,
CG drama.
I remember,
yeah,
that's,
I mean,
ask around,
this definitely happened.
People saying hurtful
things to each other
in CG are like,
you know,
you speak truth
and love
but then people
just like,
respond like,
horribly.
And,
yeah,
loving also just means
like,
interruption,
right?
It's like,
you have this well-laid
weekend plan
but suddenly,
like,
someone has an issue
and then,
okay,
you need to cancel
those plans
or you need to like,
spend less time
going hiking
and just like,
spending that time
with that person
because there is like,
some sort of crisis
happening.
And,
sometimes we have
this like,
mental bank account
in our heads
where we're like,
okay,
we're like,
keeping score a little bit
of like,
how we love
and,
you know,
we always,
you know,
whenever we give love,
you know,
we withdraw
but then we always
want to receive it back,
right?
We don't ever want
to be like,
completely empty.
Like,
we kind of have
like a love tank
or a love bank
and here actually,
Paul reminds us
of the gospel,
right?
Because it's actually
too hard on our own.
In verse 32,
he tells us
that even when
our debt,
our bank account
of God
was deeply,
deeply in the negative,
he forgave us
and he sacrificed himself
who,
he who was
of immeasurable worth
so that our bank
accounts of love
can also be
of immeasurable worth,
right?
And so we can actually
just keep on giving
this love,
right?
Because we're drawing
from this huge reservoir
of love
that just doesn't run out.
And,
you know,
sometimes,
yeah,
we can love
without being,
feeling like,
oh,
we're going to be hurt
because,
you know,
God calls us
beloved children
even though
sometimes we feel like,
oh,
this ugly blob,
this dirty blob
and,
like,
actually,
we can keep on going
because he loves us
as this ocean of love
in Ephesians,
right,
which is so wide,
so long,
so high,
and so deep.
This ocean of love
that just
overcomes
any suffering
or any disappointment
that are just buckets
compared to this ocean.
and even for myself
this week,
man,
it's been
a hard week.
I was just,
no,
even I was,
like,
working on a sermon
on Saturday.
I was like,
okay,
Saturday,
last week,
I was like,
okay,
this is a dedicated time
for a sermon.
Like,
okay,
I'm just going to,
like,
sit here
and just work on it
and I get,
like,
a student
who's,
like,
I'm in some sort
of life emergency.
I'm like,
okay,
should I reach out
to that student?
I was like,
okay,
fine,
I'll talk to them.
I met up with them
really quickly.
What I thought
might be,
like,
an hour conversation
became,
like,
a five-hour conversation.
I was like,
oh,
my gosh,
all right,
now I'm like,
or,
like,
you know,
throughout this week,
I remember just people,
like,
constantly dropping the ball
and I'm like,
okay,
I have to,
like,
pick up their slack
and then,
really hard
to be patient
with people
and,
you know,
even me,
I was,
like,
super aware
that my sermon
was coming up
about,
okay,
how we love people
so I need to be,
like,
super aware,
okay,
how I need to love people
well,
right,
but,
man,
let me tell you,
I struggled,
like,
big time.
I struggled big time.
My heart was just,
like,
bitter at different moments
and I realized,
like,
man,
I needed prayer.
I was,
like,
constantly praying,
like,
God,
like,
you know,
I'm,
like,
kind of bitter at this moment
even though it was really hard
that actually,
you know,
even though,
like,
man,
I have to constantly,
like,
forgive,
constantly,
like,
interrupt myself
and,
like,
be patient with people,
like,
actually seeing that
how sinful I was,
you know,
a reminder of actually
and how much love
and how much patience
God had with me
and how much he forgave me
even when I was a jerk,
when I was impatient,
even when I was grumbling
and,
you know,
living in love
in the 21st century
is really hard,
right,
in the fast-paced Hong Kong,
where everything is moving
really quickly
but God's grace is enough.
God's grace is enough
each day to give us strength,
renew ourselves every day.
So,
friends,
that is why every day
we actually need to renew ourselves
in this abundant love
that God has for us
so that we can live out
as his new creations
and walking in love
as his children.
Let us pray.
Dear Father,
thank you for this time
I'm able to,
yeah,
just read the word
and talk about
just how you've been working
in our lives,
Lord.
And Father,
I just pray that every day
we see just how desperate
we are for your love
because this world,
man,
just takes our attention away
and it's so easy
to be impatient,
so easy to be unloving,
so easy to be in a hurry
and so easy to,
yeah,
withdraw,
Lord.
But Father,
we know that your grace
and your love
is so wide,
so big.
It's like an ocean of love
that we can just drown in,
Lord,
and everything
that,
yeah,
comes our way,
Lord,
it just pales in comparison.
And Father,
I just pray that every day.
We're reminded
that we need to
make that effort,
Lord.
You know,
our faith isn't earned,
but we do require effort.
And Father,
I just pray that,
yeah,
we just work that,
work out our faith
and figure out what this means
to live out being a Christian
in the 21st century,
Lord.
Let's pray that,
yeah,
as we come out this week
that we're just continually renewed
and that whatever comes up at work
or in our CG,
Lord,
that we are just renewed
in your love,
renewed in your,
a new identity
that we can live out
in ways that continue
to love you
and model after you,
Jesus.
I pray that in Jesus' name,
amen.