Here is a great question for us to consider upon thinking through Eph. 4:1—How often do you consider the responsibility you have to match up your life of obedience with your divine calling?
Oftentimes I think we reason within ourselves as though obedience is optional—“I’ll love my spouse as long as I feel he or she is worthy of my love that day;” OR “I’ll take the time to discipline and instruct my kids as long as I’m not doing something else that I deem as more important;” OR “I’ll meet that need or get together with that person as long as my schedule is completely open and it wouldn’t inconvenience me too much.” “I’ll be hospitable to that family as long as I feel 100% that day. If I’m stressed out or feeling down, then I’m just not going to do it.”
In contrast, here’s how we should be thinking: “I’ll obey the Lord as long as it equates with my calling”; and the point is it always will! So obedience to the Lord should not be dependent on our feelings or natural reasoning, but on the calling of the Lord. To put it another way—since we have been called by God to eternal salvation, we are always called to put on display that worthiness of that calling by walking in his ways.