No Longer Out-Of-Control

Monday - March 21st

Scripture to Read Today: Ephesians 4:17-32

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I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

Ephesians 4:17

During a murder trial in 1994, an English jury got drunk and consulted an Ouija board to deliver a guilty verdict for the killer. Their behavior was out of control, but that did not come to light immediately.

The lead police investigator on the case, Mr. Hill, said the verdict marked the end of a difficult period (after a five-week jury trial). "There was relief the case was finished," he said. "Obviously all people that are involved in the prosecution were pleased the verdict was one of guilty, because there's...as you can imagine, a huge amount of work goes into that."

A month after the trial had concluded, a front-page headline of the News of the World newspaper (now out of business) appeared out of nowhere. Here is the headline that grabbed the attention of the UK's residents: "Murder Jury's Ouija Board Verdict: Booze, Dirty Jokes and then the Ouija Board."

The story shared with the media from a few jurists who could not keep the details to themselves seemed to get worse with each new interview. Finally, the courts declared a mistrial. Months later, a new jury returned the same guilty verdict, but free of all the jury shenanigans.

Often the Scriptures describe behavior in our world as out-of-control, selfish, and desperate (Jeremiah 17:9, Isaiah 53:6, Romans 1:24-25). Jesus said he came "not to condemn the world" because the world is already condemned. The behavior "of the world," or as Paul says in Ephesians 4:17, "of the gentiles," is out-of-control. The jury's actions in the 1994 case in England represented that kind of behavior.

The Apostle Paul challenges us as the followers of Christ that we "no longer live as the Gentiles do." Based on our position in Christ that Paul described in the first three chapters of Ephesians, we are to live differently than the world around us. Here Paul makes it clear. We are different now that we are in Christ, and our lives should give evidence of that. Others should notice a change in us.

When Christ is our Savior, because we are in Him, we should no longer live lives that are "out-of-control."