Page 149 of Sing with Me

Perhaps Dad didn’t have to work so hard if Mom could cut expenses. She had been taking entirely too many trips to Paris on the mostly empty Gulfstream. Maybe she should consider taking commercial flights instead.

And yeah, she could stop going to auction houses to buy antique jewelry and whatever else she bought. How many pieces of jewelry could a person wear, anyway?

Then again, Mom was not Diehl’s problem—unless Dad dropped dead. Then Diehl and his sister would have to take care of high-maintenance Mom.

Diehl’s only happy thought—apart from Christ—was Skye.

He could not think of anything wrong with Skye. She was quiet, thoughtful, kind, generous—all the attributes he wanted to have.

Sometimes Skye was sad, and he wanted to hug her and wipe away her tears—although God would always get to her first, as He should.

Matt gave a stack of paper to Ivan to pass around. “As you can tell, I’m teaching again. I’m going out of town next week when Adam gets back. Ben will be teaching next week.”

Ben nodded. Suddenly serious, he had probably been joking earlier about moving the Bible study to an evening slot.

“Well, guys, we let the time run away from us, so let’s do this. I’ll open with prayer, and we can study God’s Word. When we’re done, Ivan and Ben can split up the prayer list and pray for all the requests. If you have to leave, sneak out quietly and make sure the door is shut before you run off.” Matt looked at the front door as he spoke. “I guess Hayden is not coming.”

Matt prayed for them, and he thanked God for Diehl’s salvation.

“Let’s begin. Last week, we talked about doing good to others, especially those in the house of the Lord—that is, the church. That’s an external activity. I was going to do another study on good works, but we want to rejoice in the Lord for our new brother in Christ, Diehl. So today we’re going to talk about an internal transformation. Turn with me to Ephesians 4.”

Fumbling around, Diehl found the table of contents of his new Bible to show him where Ephesians 4 was.

“Ben, would you read Ephesians 4:17-19, please?” Matt asked.

“Sure. ‘This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.’ That reminds me of Pastor Gonzalez’s sermon on light versus darkness.”

Matt nodded. “Yep, Scripture supports Scripture. So that’s a laundry list of what we were before we were unbelievers, or Gentiles. What are some of the things we were?”

“Ignorant. Futile. Alienated from God,” Ivan said in random order. “Lewd. Unclean. Greedy.”

“Pastor Gonzalez spoke of light versus darkness,” Benicio said. “Here we see the phrase ‘having their understanding darkened.’ That is, we walked in darkness before we were saved.”

Matt waited.

“Do I need to say something?” Diehl asked.

“You don’t have to, but if a word or phrase pops up, feel free to say,” Matt said.

“Well, an unsaved person’s heart is blind,” Diehl said.

“Good. That goes with some line from ‘Amazing Grace,’ doesn’t it? ‘I once was lost, but now I see.’ Once we’re saved, God removes the scales of sin from our eyes, and we can see everything clearly.”

“I can attest to that,” Diehl said. “I peeked into my son’s room this morning while he was still sleeping. He looks different. I see a soul who is loved by God. I was astounded.”

“Same here. When I got saved, I suddenly saw each person as individuals,” Matt said.

“When did you become a Christian?” Diehl asked.

“Nine years ago—six months after my wife left me.” Matt’s voice seemed tinged with some unresolved pain.

“Really? You sound like you know a lot about the Bible.”

“You don’t have to beoldto know the Bible. A person who is saved for twenty years might not know as much as a person who is saved for two years if the former doesn’t spend time in God’s Word at all. The closer you stay to God, the more you will learn and have tools to apply to your life.”

Diehl nodded.

“Any one of us would be more than happy to meet with you one-to-one to study the Bible verse by verse,” Matt added. “Additionally, we have our Bible study here, plus church services. You’re going to get fed well.”

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