Ephesians 5:11-20The Message
11-16 Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.
Wake up from your sleep,
Climb out of your coffins;
Christ will show you the light!
So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!
17 Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.
18-20 Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge drafts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
This passage of Scripture gives us a moment to think about using our time well.
Have you or I or anyone we know ever figured out the best way to use your time?
Lots of books, articles, podcasts, and videos have been produced to share the latest, best and greatest tips on how best to use the time we have in our lives.
Some of the ideas are great for edifying, building relationships, truly caring for others, getting an education, working efficiently, even planning for retirement.
As we grow older, and wiser and more aware of time, many of us realize that we have wasted some time along the way, and so, we may have regrets about that.
God knows we cannot gain back the hours we have spent, but, in the power of God’s Spirit, as we do seek to change how we live, we can make the most of the time ahead of us: How we spend our time—with God and with others—matters.
Which is it, Grudgingly or Willingly Taking Time With God ….?
Isaiah 30:15-17The Message
God Takes the Time to Do Everything Right
15-17 God, the Master, The Holy of Israel,
has this solemn counsel:
“Your salvation requires you to turn back to me
and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.
Your strength will come from settling down
in complete dependence on me—
The very thing
you’ve been unwilling to do.
You’ve said, ‘No way! We’ll rush off on horseback!’
You’ll rush off, all right! Just not far enough!
You’ve said, ‘We’ll ride off on fast horses!’
Do you think your pursuers ride old nags?
Think again: A thousand of you will scatter before one attacker.
Before a mere five you’ll all run off.
There’ll be nothing left of you—
a flagpole on a hill with no flag,
a signpost on a roadside with the sign torn off.”
Some days when I “stop” to look at my family life, all I can see busy and hectic.
Some days, in my business, in passing, I will actually take the time to look at my family life with quick and fleeting sense of serenity, solitude and thanksgiving.
When we work, we work a lot.
When we are on the road at our employment, we have ourselves to take care of.
When we play, we go all out.
We place high value the time away with our friends doing whatever is “fun.”
When we are home, we have kids to take care of or school events to attend.
When we are at home we have spouses to care for, who take time to care for us.
Sometimes, because of long term chronic illness, we are the one’s who have to devote enormous amounts of time, effort and resources to give 24 x 7 care to.
Sometimes the maximum efforts and resources of our entire families are being drawn into that singular “Christian” effort to care for the ailing family member.
We have homes and cars that require our time and attention to keep in order.
When it comes to church, we could be at a service or small group every other day if we really wanted to devote our times to such a search for our maturity.
It can be hard to put time aside from our eventful days to rest and be quiet before God as our Scripture from Isaiah 30 instructs.
Spending time with God, being quiet before God, away from our noisiness gets even harder when an unavoidable monkey wrench is thrown into our busy lives.
This could be a death in the family, a rebellious child, the loss of a job, or anything at all that is unexpected.
When any of these happen to us, our first response is often to set things back to “normal mode” – whatever it is which defines “normal” for us in that moment.
Under “normal” circumstances, Who would not want to “normally” do this?
We “normally” look for the plans of action necessary to set things in order and not so “normally” we might “take time” to ask God to bless us along the way.
We fall into the trap that action is the only solvent for the unexpected problems we cannot take the time, make any minimal effort to avoid encountering in life.
When many times, we simply need to, but refuse to, to live as the Psalmist and actually make, take the time to “be still and know that [He is] God” Psalm 46:10.
Our comfort won’t come from making and taking our own time to “solving” the issues alone, but learning and knowing God and his ways during our busy life.
Begin taking 5 minutes out of your workday to be in a quiet place and rest in God.
As we begin to make this a habit, we will understand its importance and remember to make more time during our busy lives for God.
How are we spending our time each day?
There’s a cartoon that quips, “We only live once,” and the comeback line says, “We only die once; we live every day.”
What matters is how we live every day.
What matters is how we love every day.
The question we have to consider praying over is;
“Will our lives reflect the majesty of Jesus, or ourselves, lament our lost time?
Ephesians 5:15-17 The Message
11-16 Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.
Wake up from your sleep,
Climb out of your coffins;
Christ will show you the light!
So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!
17 Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.
The Paul here desperately urges us,
“Don’t waste the time that you have.”
Aim to live for God, Christ Jesus our Savior and the Holy Spirit with no regrets.
Live abundantly and fully with the life you have been given in Savior Christ.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Dear God, turn our wayward ears and eyes, hands and feet towards you. forgive us for the times that we have spent ignoring you and selfishly focusing on what is not important. Help us to use our time wisely, honoring you. Thank you for your grace.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 