This past Sunday [Feb 15, 2009 worship series Relationship911 at Jacob’s Well] I had everyone read this passage aloud with me. Ephesians 5.1-2. It’s The Message paraphrase. I knew it was strong, but when I heard everyone read it together the power of it hit me like a ton of bricks.
Read these verses. Slowly. Repeat.
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 him 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)
In the evening I led the spoken word part of the service at The Source in Stillwater and we read it together again and it was even clearer. How can anyone NOT want to be part of this guy Jesus’ movement? How can you NOT want to be loved by this God?
Okay, it is The Message paraphrase and if you read these verses in a straight translation they aren’t quite so inspiring. But I did some careful comparison. The paraphrase captures the heart of what the Greek is trying to say, but does so in a way that speaks to the hearts of people today.
We have the best news in the world!
Precarious Pastor 
Timely post. I’ve been asking myself something lately: “Do I love good enough?” I know the answer if no… we can never love others or God as much as God wants us to. Right? Trouble is, even though none of us can ever get there, it feels like that means I’m set up for failure. (Yep, that’s a ME feeling, not an US feeling. Even though I know none of us can do it, still feels like it’s me. Alone.) It’s like I’m chasing this rabbit I can never catch and there isn’t much comfort in that. Don’t get me wrong, I feel love deeply. Very deeply, even for people I don’t know. However, looking ahead or behind makes me not fully present. Don’t think I ever can be fully present because the past and the future are big. Human nature, but frustrating nonetheless.