Dear
Friend, grace and peace be unto you from God our Father, and our Lord
and Savior, Jesus, the Christ. Amen.
Do you
believe it is important as to how you walk through life day by day?
Paul says it is. It is crucial for the cause of Jesus and crucial
for the welfare of society. A person either contributes to the
building up of Jesus and Society or to the tearing down of both.
In your life you either carry the message of life or the message of
death. St. Paul says the believer is to walk carefully and
strictly throughout life in five ways.
First,
by looking around and watching every step (5:15) “Be
very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise,…”
Life is a
walk, a path that we travel. God expects us to walk “careful”
(akribos) which means circumspectly, accurately – just as we should.
You need to know that you can walk one of two ways through life.
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You
can walk as the fool or unwise person. This means your
walk will be unthinking, thoughtless, careless, uncaring and
worldly-minded. The unwise person just arises in the morning
and goes through the day with no thought of God or how he should
live. He is not concerned about resisting the temptations of
life. Living a life that the Lord would be pleased with is not
important to him.
-
You
can walk as the wise person – thinking, thoughtful, careful,
caring, spiritually minded. You can walk as a person on a
mission for God. You know God through Jesus and wish to live
and serve Him. You can grow in knowing God and living for Him.
Jesus is always with you wherever you go.
For the
wise person mistakes matter – sin, cursing, murder, immorality,
drunkenness, war, hunger, divorce, suffering, drugs, shame, evil,
off-colored jokes, obesity, selfishness, power struggles, neglect,
hate…
The wise
follower of Jesus struggles to watch every step of his journey, living a
life of discipline and self-control by the grace of God.
Second,
you are to walk by redeeming the time (5:16) “…making
the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”
The idea
here is that time is a gift of God. What we do with this gift in
life is important. You are to use your time for things of value.
This means two things.
-
You
are to use your time wisely and not waste it. Time exists
as a gift for all of us. You are to use it to do the best you
can with God’s help.
How are
you using your time at work as you contribute to society? How
are you using your time to worship the Lord and witness to Him?
How are you meeting the needs of a world that is caught in darkness
and suffering? How are you using your time to resist sin?
-
You
are to use your time by taking advantage of the opportunities that
arise throughout the day to live for Jesus - to seek God’s
grace to live righteously and godly, to witness to Jesus, to work
hard at your secular job, to be faithful to your family, to pray
continually to your God.
You are to
make “the most of every opportunity, because the
days are evil.” Evil confronts you every day. Your
temptations can be mild or to the point of persecution. But your
opportunity to live and witness to Jesus is limited by a time span that
God only knows.
We all
waste time! We are all guilty. We may not be efficient, or
watch to much TV, are lazy at work, ignore our family, spend time with
activities that are unprofitable, read questionable materials…
Each of us
needs to take a moment and think about how we waste the precious gift of
time God has given us. And then do something to correct that
waste.
Third,
you are to walk by understanding the Lord’s will (5:17)
“Therefore do not be foolish, but understand
what the Lord’s will is.”
The word “understand”
(suniemi) means to grasp, perceive, see with the mind and comprehend.
You are to understand what God’s will is in order to conquer evil.
If you don’t, then you are a fool and acting unwisely. How can
you know what the will of the Lord is?
-
By
knowing the Word of God (Scripture) – knowing it so well that
faith is strengthened in your life and you can face the situations
that come your way each day.
-
By
being sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit as He seeks
to make you aware of what is going on around you and empower you to
make the right choices.
Fourth,
you are to walk by rejecting drunkenness (5:18a) “Do
not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery…”
“Drunkenness”
means to be intoxicated with drink or drugs. The word “debauchery”
means excessive behavior, uncontrolled behavior, wild conduct.
Drunkenness
is a work of the flesh and often leads to sins of the flesh.
Drinking an alcoholic beverage is not sin in itself, but can produce sin
and shameful behavior.
Fifth,
you are to walk being filled with the Spirit (5:18b-21)
“Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak
to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and
make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the
Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
Paul puts
this command in the present tense of the Greek which means that you are
to be constantly filled with the Spirit – you are to keep on being
filled. The Holy Spirit is to infill or overwhelm you continually
to live life to the glory of God. To be so filled you are
conscious of Jesus leadership in your life - moment by moment.
The Spirit
is the very manifestation of Jesus in your life. When we sing “come
into my heart Lord Jesus” that is what we desire. “Jesus,
become a real presence in my day to day life.”
The word “manifestation”
in Greek usage suggests that a new thing has come to light. That
new thing, Paul says, is a person, Jesus. When Jesus becomes part
of your life you become a new person.
Paul now
shares the three traits of a person being filled, controlled,
overwhelmed, influenced by the Holy Spirit.
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A
Spirit-filled person has a singing spirit. They are joyful
in the things of God. They sing: Psalms, hymns and Spiritual
songs. Do you have a singing spirit?
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A
Spirit-filled person has a thankful spirit. The follower
of Jesus knows that his life is in God’s hands and he is thankful
for that. Jesus is in control no matter the circumstances.
Do you have a thankful spirit?
-
A
Spirit-filled person has a submissive and respectful spirit.
A Spirit-filled person does not have a spirit of criticism,
dissension, envy, divisiveness or selfishness. He has a spirit
of submissiveness.
The same
is true of a Spirit-filled church. It has a body of people who
are submissive – going out of their way to minister and serve each
other. There is no dissension or divisiveness, no envy or
selfishness among its people. In the fear of the Lord they
submit to each other. Do you have a submissive and respectful
spirit?
Sometimes you may forget the
responsibility you have as a Christian for living the Christian life.
Your life is a witness and how you live it reflects to the world.
Is that reflection something that will build up Jesus, the Church and
society?
Heavenly Father, we to often
forget whose we are and who we are to be. We are Yours but to
often live like we are someone else’s. We repent of our
waywardness and ask You to fill, overwhelm, and control us by Your Sprit
daily to live to Your glory.
In
Jesus name, Amen.
