1Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. 2Walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.
3But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints; 4nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate, but rather giving of thanks.
5Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man (who is an idolater), has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.
6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. 7Therefore don’t be partakers with them. 8For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, 9for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, 10proving what is well pleasing to the Lord. 11Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them. 12For it is a shame even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13But all things, when they are reproved, are revealed by the light, for everything that reveals is light. 14Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
15Therefore watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, 16redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17Therefore, don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.
22Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the assembly, being himself the savior of the body. 24But as the assembly is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their own husbands in everything.
25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly and gave himself up for her, 26that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without defect. 28Even so husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. 29For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord also does the assembly, 30because we are members of his body, of his flesh and bones. 31“For this cause a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife. Then the two will become one flesh.” 32This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and the assembly. 33Nevertheless each of you must also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
These are the words known in Judaism as the SHEMAH. That means "hear". If you boil down God's will for mankind, it is distilled in these few words. God is telling us as rule number one, "LISTEN, YOU WHO WRESTLE WITH GOD. I AM ONE. LOVE ME WITH ALL OF YOUR HEART, WITH ALL OF YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL OF YOUR MIND, AND ALL OF YOUR STRENGTH" And rule number two is, "LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF". The "heart" is the place where the mind and the emotions meet. Your soul is the real you that resides in your body. God is telling us to turn our emotions and our intellect, all contained in our soul, over to Him. It means to trust Him with our everything.
Jesus follows this up by saying we're to love our neighbors as ourselves. I think it is sometimes taught that we have to learn to love ourselves before we can really love others. There may be some truth to that, but it can lead to self-focus and self-worship. The truth of the matter is that most of us "love ourselves" by default. Paul summarizes that in his letter to the church in Ephesus, "29 For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord also does the assembly," (Ephesians 5:29). This means by default we're interested in us and in what is ours. That's different than having a healthy self-image. Jesus lays out in these verses the formula and secret for an incredible life. The singer André Crouch said something like, "If all this turns out to be a fiction or a fairy tale, it’s still a great way to live". The beauty is that it is neither a fiction nor a fairy tale. It is all true and God tells us in these short verses how to live it out. Now, friend, GO AND DO IT!