"Cut that out!" can be a stern word of judgment uttered by parents correcting rowdy children. On the other hand, imagine a hospital patient who has cancer. She would be given options for treatment, to which she might reply, "Cut that out." In that case, the cutting out has an entirely different tone.
Paul acknowledges that we are creatures of conformity. He is saying, "You're going to copy. You're going to mimic someone's steps and mirror someone's movements. That's how we are as human beings. So if you're going to imitate somebody, go ahead and imitate me. Follow me as I follow Jesus."
What would Jesus drive? If Jesus were on earth today, what kind of vehicle would he choose? Can you imagine Jesus tooling around town in Volkswagen Beetle or do you see him driving a Hummer? What would Jesus drive? I recently found two very different answers to this question.
First, Paul says, "Watch carefully." I certainly have a new appreciation for those words after the wreck. When you have driven for 40 years without a wreck, as I had, you begin to assume you can drive your way out of any dangerous situation.
Paul sums up that very idea in verse 8 when he says, "For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light."Notice that this reference does not say, "You were IN darkness" but rather "You WERE darkness." Jesus put the idea this way in Luke 11:34.
Don Harbuck said, "The wall is everywhere. All of us know about it. No age or age group has gone unshaped by its pernicious power. Its menacing power moves the length and breadth of human existence. What wall is it? Paul calls it the dividing wall of hostility. It is the wall that separates and fragments and isolates.
Philip Yancey points out the contrast between the life of Jesus and the modern church. People like the prostitute in this story flocked to Jesus, but they avoid the church like the plague. Somehow in the course of 2,000 years, we have managed to turn that upside down.
I would be embarrassed to tell you the times I have spent money foolishly. Most of the time, we spend our money on things that really aren't that important. That's because most of the time we spend it on our own appetites. We spend our money foolishly on our appetites instead of spending it wisely on the Kingdom of God.
We can all identify with Humpty Dumpty as he sat on the wall--a better time. Can you remember such an idyllic time? How far back do you have to go? Back before the Fall. Back before you made a mess of life. Back when relationships were right. After the Fall, we look back with envy at the simple times of sitting on a wall.
Paul says, "We walk by faith and not by sight." Most people advocate walking by sight. With our eyes, we see the path before us. Our eyes keep us from stumbling and falling. We live by sight. Many conclude that only what we see and touch is real. In the church, however, we believe that there is more to this world than what meets the eyes.