Ephesians 4:3

"Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace." Ephesians 4:3

The idea of being "eager and striving earnestly" is the same as giving your maximum effort, doing your best, exerting yourself, to do it. So we are to do everything we can, to guard watch over something very precious! It means to observe attentively, to keep watch over and make sure it doesn't get taken away, or lost. In this case it's the peacefulness, the unity between one another that comes from the "same" Holy Spirit in each of us.

But, isn't The Holy Spirit stronger than we are? Because He is God, of course He is, but we can and do quench The Holy Spirit through our actions and thoughts. We can quench the "binding power of peace" Paul is talking about in many ways.

Being eager and striving earnestly to guard over our tongue is an important way to keep peace among the body. The tongue has set many a church "ablaze". And so if we are to guard the unity, we would do well to pray...

"Set a guard, O Lord, before my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips." Psalm 141:3

There are many ways that the unity, peace, and harmony between us can be broken, but the easiest way to guard over it is by continually measuring ourselves against what God says His love is suppose to look like and not look like. That is found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a.

"Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]"

Memorizing this description of love will not teach us to love... It is impossible for anyone to produce the love these verses describe. Love is from God only, and is manifested by The Holy Spirit, but our awareness of what it should and should not look like helps us to stay connected to Christ so that this is what we see being manifested from ourselves. This love, not only keeps unity within the body, but will continually draw more and more people into the body. Amen?

Let's pick up with Ephesians verse 4:4-6 next time.

I love you.