Notes of Faith May 11, 2026
Pastor’s Pen Pulpit
February 9, 2003
“WALKING IN LOVE”
Ephesians 5:1-2
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in LOVE, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
Valentine’s Day is coming! Love songs are being played everywhere. We see sugary cards and heart-shaped boxes of candy in every store we enter. The Bible has a lot to say about love and we are going to look at one aspect of it.
The Christian life is defined in the Christian’s walk. We are told to walk in many ways and in today’s passage we are told to walk in LOVE! (That word again!)
The motive for walking in love. “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.”
The motive is that we are to imitate our father. Most children delight in trying to be like their parents. They wear dad’s hat or mom’s high-heeled shoes. They also imitate their temperament in some ways (ouch!) Love is the temperament of our Heavenly Father that we are to imitate. He calls us “beloved children.” This tells us that, with the Holy Spirit, we are capable of walking in divine love. Every aspect of our life is to be centered in God’s love.
The example of walking in love. “Just as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
In what way is Jesus the example? In His sacrifice! Self-sacrifice is a better term. He took the initiative and volunteered to go to the cross for us. Paul says it this way – “an offering.” Christ’s offering was made to God. His sacrifice was to God for us.
This sacrifice was one person taking the place of another. Jesus took the place of the entire human race in His death. He died so that we would not have to. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (His sacrifice!) Romans 6:23
Paul goes on to say that this sacrifice is a fragrant aroma. This means that the aroma of Jesus’ sacrifice ascended to God and is described as fragrant, that is well pleasing or acceptable. We are to sacrifice for others, as Christ did for us. It could be a sacrifice of our time, our comfort, our money or a number of other things. In extreme circumstances it could be our very lives. We witnessed this recently in the space shuttle disaster.
Our walk includes many things. I believe our “LOVE walk” is one of the most important. Let’s walk in love before the world this week. The world’s view of love is so distorted. Let’s follow Christ’s example and be examples of real love to a very dark and sin-sick world. God bless.
In Christ’s love,
Pastor Charles Covington
I have shared with couples, asking why they want to get married? Most often the answer from both of them is, “because I love him/her”. Then I ask them to define love. This is where the rubber meets the road. One’s definition and understanding of the word love will define the relationship. Eventually in our conversation I suggest that the greatest expression of love is sacrifice. As Christ sacrificed Himself for us, in love…we are to sacrifice ourselves (not in death but rather living for His glory), to God first, then to all others. This life of love will fulfill the commandments that Jesus said were the greatest and fulfilled all of the law of God.
Love God! Love others!
Pastor Dale