EXPOSITION:
Back in the university, everyone tried to learn hard to start with first class in the first year. In those days one had to get a weighted average (also called GPA) of 70+ to enter the first class. It is a common phenomenon to see many good students starting well into the first class. With time however, many people drop from the first class and settle somewhere in the second class upper or lower. It is not too difficult to make a first class the challenge, however, it has to do with how to maintain the class.
Such is the truth about the Christian life. It is easy to become born again (after all salvation is by the finished work of Christ Jesus on the cross and we are saved by grace when we believe and accept Christ’s work of atonement for us). The challenge is with how to maintain the faith and walk the walk worthy of our calling, to bear fruits worthy of repentance as John the Baptist puts it.
In Ephesians 4, Apostle Paul admonishes the believers in Ephesus to walk in a manner worthy of the calling they had received of the Lord and makes it clear that it may not be possible to walk that walk of faith when we have issues with our brothers and sisters. So he admonishes them in verse 31 and 32, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Believers are to be bound by the bond of love and peace yet every now and then some little foxes come in to steal our love. In so doing, these little foxes take away the blessings declared for us as believers when we live together in peace (See Psalm 133). It is time to catch the little foxes and destroy them. One of them is bitterness, another is anger, the third one is slander and the list goes on and on. Let’s drive them out today in Jesus name!