15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because
the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which
leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing
and make music from your heart to the Lord,20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. - Ephesians 5:15-20
Russ is
always saying regarding preaching or teaching of Christian theologies, don't
teach him anything unless you give him a practical "how-to" guide for
the teaching. In other words, how do I
use this today or tomorrow. With that in
mind, I do try to always consider to provide some example of "how-to"
use whatever I'm teaching in practical life.
Here in
Ephesians is a "how-to" live guide.
The first thing to do is "Be ... wise". Proverbs 1 tells us that fear of the Lord is
the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom. You have to acknowledge who He is as a
beginning to knowing anything. How do we
live wise? We understand that God is the
beginning and finisher of everything.
Then we ask Him for wisdom. Solomon
asked for wisdom when he was given the chance to ask for anything and God gave
him wisdom. I believe that God Himself
is the only provision for wisdom that we can obtain. If we want to live wisely, then we need to
live obediently close to Him, trusting Him in all things above all things.
This is a
task that is to be done with attention, intention, and purpose. This passage says to "Be very
careful" to live as wise. This is
not something we just arbitrarily do.
This is an aspect of our lives that we are deliberate, patient, and
purposeful to walk. If we are climbing
on a trail that is rocky with small ledges, we are very careful lest we misstep
and take a great fall. The same careful
attention and intensity of detail should be considered as we look to be careful
to live as wise.
1 comment:
I like your focus on the only source of wisdom is God, therefore "we need to live obediently close to him,..." So many believe that God set the world in motion, gave us a brain and expects us to use it. It think he expects us to give it to Him for His use.
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