14. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. 15. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise. 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
This passage is a call from Paul to the Ephesians to wake up, live better lives and be better witnesses of Christ. In verse 15, he gives advice that we all should follow if we are to be effective servants of Jesus Christ. First, Paul advised us to walk circumspectly. This means that we are to walk carefully. Another way of saying this is that we should be careful where we step. We need to be careful in our spiritual walk with Jesus, and follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit. We should not underestimate the wiles of Satan, who will make us to walk carelessly. This is good advice, and I imagine that all of us have made careless steps in our lives that we wished that we had not taken. However, a step once taken in our lives cannot be taken back. We can repent of the unwise step, but there will still be consequences of the wrong step. You might guess that I personally know the consequences of a careless step. Second, Paul advised that they "walk not as fools, but as wise." I don't think that Paul means that we should depend upon our wisdom alone in making wise decisions. When we were saved, the Holy Spirit came into our lives to lead and guide us in the right direction. I wish many times that I had followed the wisdom of the Holy Spirit instead of my own "wisdom" in decisions that I have made in life. Walking as fools means that we have been careless in decisions that we make. Sometimes these foolish decisions will mar the rest of our lives. No one is perfect in following the Spirit's leadership, but we can always do better in following the instincts that the Holy Spirit will give us. Third, Paul advised that they "redeem the time, because the days are evil." This means that we should make the best use of our time because of the evil in the world, and for the welfare of our own walk with Jesus. Since my retirement, I have learned the wisdom of this. I get up in the morning and can do whatever I want to do. The old TV is there begging to be turned on, but I know that if I do that, I will waste time instead of doing, for example, what I am doing right now, i.e., writing a CouchPotatoRedux article. Except for a Christian program that I watch in the morning, I do not turn the TV on until the afternoon. We need to ask ourselves, are we really making the best use of our time as servants of Jesus? Sometimes the best thing to "redeem the time," is to step back, relax, and reload. This was good advice for the Ephesians, and for us. We need to heed it. Bro. Joe
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|