Ephesians 5:3,4 Sexual immorality . . . must not even be named among you . . . Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking . . . but instead let there be thanksgiving. When I was in my early teens, my father and I knew a man with a particularly foul…
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Ephesians 4:30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God . . . In my addiction, I broke my relationship with my wife. My lies and toxic behavior destroyed trust, embarrassed her and wrecked her life. She wanted to know why. Why would you love something so destructive over me? She was right in asking.…
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Ephesians 4:22-24 Put off your old self, which . . . is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit . . . put on the new self, created after the likeness of God. Medical school and residency were painfully repetitive. We were taught certain concepts over and over in an effort to…
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Ephesians 4:15 Speaking the truth in love… It is not uncommon for me to be approached by the family member of an addict, who desperately wants to know how to deal with the addiction. Do I just love him? Do I kick him out of the house? How can I make him get help? It…
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Ephesians 4:1,2 Walk… with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love… As is often the case, I read this passage yesterday, knowing it was important but not immediately seeing any issue there for me. Though I do not always get it right, I generally treat people with kindness. I kept…
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Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us… I once laughed bitterly at this verse. In my addiction, I prayed for God to fix me and became cynical when He did not. I grew hopeless…
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Ephesians 2:1-5 You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked… we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body… But God, being rich in mercy… even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. Weekly, a buddy…
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Ephesians 1:18 …That you may know what is the hope to which he has called you… Before marriage, I lived on my own for the better part of a decade, during which time, unlaundered sheets and dirty bathrooms became normal. I gradually became desensitized to living conditions that I look back on now with some…
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Ephesians 1:4,5 He chose us in him before the foundation of the world… He predestined us for adoption to himself… In my addiction and recovery, I became obsessed with the question of where God’s work meets my effort. Am I responsible or is God? If God is truly in control, then my sobriety is his…
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