Ephesians Lesson 5/Day 3

One of my favorite poets is Shel Silverstein. Among his many lovely, fun, and poignant poems is “Hug ‘o War.” It goes like this: “I will not play at tug o' war; I'd rather play at hug o' war; Where everyone hugs; Instead of tugs; Where everyone giggles; And rolls on the rug; Where everyone kisses; And everyone grins; And everyone cuddles; And everyone wins.”  The natural outflow of a Christian being filled with the Holy Spirit is a biblical version of Silverstein’s idyllic scenario of hugging instead of tugging. It’s filled with grinning, giggling, rolling and kissing and everyone winning. Sound silly? Naïve even? Without Christ it is. With Christ it’s a delightful way to see how Christians engage. We sing. We love. We defer to one another. We are filled with thankfulness and joy and light and rich words that uplift and encourage. We don’t tug and tear and assert our own way. To bring another image into this, it’s like a dance hall with all the dancers swaying and sashaying, skipping and dipping, passing over and under one another in time to the melody. I see the church and our families and our work relations moving like this when we are all looking to God as our conductor, Christ as our example, and the Holy Spirit as our indwelling source. What a vision of true Christianity when we all mutually submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.