Living up to your call: humility, gentleness and patience

We usually read this passage (not wrongly) as a “church” passage. It lays out key principles for people who worship (and sometimes study, serve or give) together. So how much more vital are these principles for people devoted to sharing their whole life together, living under the same roof in a lifelong committed union? Tension and conflicts inevitably arise in every such relationship for one simple reason: we are different. But Ephesians said diversity was God’s plan. It spoke of “accepting each other in love,” and urged all Christ-followers to “live as people worthy of the call you received from God.” Scholar N. T. Wright captured the nature of that call: “At every moment, in every decision, with every word and action, they are to be aware that the call to follow Jesus the Messiah, and give him their complete loyalty, takes precedence over everything else. In particular, this must lead them back again and again to celebrate their unity, to maintain and guard it.” *

• In your closest relationships, do you notice the ways that the differences between people bring depth, richness and strength (even when they may also pose challenges)? It is a fact that many times the differences were a big factor in attracting two people to one another. How can valuing, honoring and celebrating the strength that grows from our differences help to keep us from building relationship-destroying walls of separation? The passage also said one of the ways we help each other grow (in the church, and certainly in any family) is “speaking the truth in love.” Which do you find harder with those you love and are close to: speaking the truth at all, or doing so in love? What can help you grow toward maturity in both of those dimensions?