The Daily: Monday August 12, 2024

Daily Lectionary Reading: Psalm 57 (NRSV, The Message); 2 Samuel 15:13-31 (NRSV, The Message); Ephesians 5:1-14 (NRSV, The Message)

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with [God] and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
Ephesians 5:1-2 (The Message)

These first two verses repeat yesterday's scripture passage, here shared from Eugene Peterson's Message translation. This paraphrase teases out the understanding that imitating God is learning and living in love. When further filtered through the lens of Christ, we are invited into a life of self-giving, extravagant love.

What precedes and follows this powerful invitation is a list of practicalities of what such a life might look like. However, this is the foundation and key.