11 05 07 One Another’s (Part V)
Extreme Christians

“Therefore, putting away lying, ‘Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,’ for we are members of one another.” (Ephesians 4:25 NKJV)

As Paul addressed the Ephesians to no longer act as the Gentiles around them, now that they were new creatures in Christ, his words ring true today, nearly 2,000 years later! We especially need to speak the truth to one another, those of us in the family of God, so we truly know one another without any false pretenses. We have so many masks and facades we carry around with us, many of us rarely know ourselves.

So the challenge is not just to speak the truth, but to live truthfully in the world and to live transparent so those around us can see us for who we really are and see what Christ has done and is still doing in and through us. If He could only be made more visible for others to actually see, many more lost sheep would find their shepherd! To me this is being an EXTREME CHRISTIAN.

“Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32 NET)

Paul leaves us with a challenge: INSTEAD is added here, to link the texts and remind us to no longer live as we did before Christ found us and treat one another as Christ treats us. We believers are to be compassionate, caring, sympathetic, tender-hearted (referring to the inner bowels of a person); showing a deep and affectionate (EXTREME) care for one another; eusplagchnos in the common Greek language. If we are to live a compassionate life of caring and serving, we can’t afford to be phony in any way. Others will see it and our effectiveness for Christ will be lost. People know the real thing when they see it. Remember the Samaritan woman at the well? She knew she saw the Lord! People will know a true Christian or a phony! We must be real, transparent, an open book! This an extreme world and it begs for EXTREME CHRISTIANS! Are you radical enough dude?