<p>5:2 <i>And walk in love- just as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us- </i>As noted on :1, our exposure to His love is the basis for imitating it, in the form of a life lived or walked in love. In His love is the ultimate motivation to love. Do we struggle to live the life of true love, to endure people, even our brethren; are we simply tired of people, and living the life of love towards them? Does the past exist within us as a constant fountain of bitterness and regret? &ldquo;Let all bitterness, and wrath and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ&rsquo;s sake the sake of His cross hath forgiven you... walk in love, <i>as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us</i>&quot; (Eph. 4:31-5:2).</p><p><i>A fragrant offering and sacrifice to God- </i>The peace offering was to make a sweet savour. Through His death on the cross, the Lord was this: &quot;Christ... hath given himself for us an offering (a peace offering?) and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour&quot; (Eph. 5:2). If we are in Christ, then God will see us too as a sweet savour. And this is exactly what 2 Cor. 2:15 says: &quot;We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ&quot;. Yet we must fellowship His sufferings if we are in Him, really fellowship them. The peace offering was to have the fat and rump &quot;taken off hard by the backbone&quot; (Lev. 3:9). The ruthless division of flesh and spirit within Christ (shown superbly in the way His wilderness temptations are recorded) must be seen in us too. We must ask if we are really taking off the fat hard by the backbone. Are we even prepared for the pain, the pain of self- knowledge and self denial which this will necessitate? For His love, His sacrifice, is not only counted to us but is to be ours.</p>