Ephesians 5:11-16 GOD’S WORD Translation
11 Have nothing to do with the useless works that darkness produces. Instead, expose them for what they are. 12 It is shameful to talk about what some people do in secret. 13 Light exposes the true character of everything 14 because light makes everything easy to see. That’s why it says:
“Wake up, sleeper!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.” [a]
15 So then, be very careful how you live. Don’t live like foolish people but like wise people. 16 Make the most of your opportunities because these are evil days.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
This life is marked by a single choice: who or what or where or when or why we will we center our lives around really the one thing in our worlds that matters?
This choice takes each of us down either a wide a path or a narrow of decisions that shape who we are, what we feel, who or what we value, and what we will have accomplished at the end of our days.
To make the choice to exclusively center our lives only around ourselves or the things of this world leads only to the widest possible paths of our destruction.
But, to center our lives around meeting with God fills each moment with the glorious abundance of God’s love, provision, and transcendent peace.
I pray that just today, may your life be marked by union with your Creator as we explore what it means to intentionally centering our lives around meeting God.
Ephesians 5:15-16 warns us, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”
Our time is of the utmost importance here on earth.
We can never get back the days we spend frivolously pursuing the things of the world.
We will never get back the time we spent outside of God’s purposes of receiving God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness and giving and sharing in that perfect love.
Our time here is too limited and too important to spend on burdens, stresses, sin, and worldly pursuits.
If we’re going to make the most of this life, we must learn to center our time around the eternal value of meeting with God.
It’s for this reason James 4:13-15 says,
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
“Search me O’ God and know my heart, and see if there is any evil way in me” Exclusively seeking God, not self, looking at all the ways in which we spend our time is one of the best ways to assess the posture and the priorities of our heart.
If we spend all our time working for and thinking about the things of the world, we know we haven’t yet come into a right revelation of God’s purposes for us.
If we spend the majority of our time simply getting through our days trying to find “happiness” rather than seeking the face of our heavenly Father that we might receive sustaining, transcendent joy, we can know that we have yet to surrender ourselves to God’s searching our souls and our lives fully to our King.
The great thing about the nature of time is that it is completely ours to do with what we will.
We can, right now, decide to make the best use of our time according to the purposes of God as revealed to us through Scripture.
We can, right now, decide to stop wasting precious minutes on that which is fleeting and temporal and instead invest our days in the lasting, eternal, and fruitful purposes of our heavenly Father.
Psalm 90:12 , “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
God longs to teach us how to use our days wisely.
He longs to give us a heart of wisdom that we might center our lives around meeting with him.
You and I have God himself dwelling within us, ready to guide us into a lifestyle of intentional and purposeful living.
I pray we will choose today to more fully open our hearts and minds to the Teacher, the very Spirit of God, and live according to his will – may we find peace, joy, and purpose in the ways in which we will invest our time today.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Guided Prayer:
1. Meditate on the importance of using your time wisely.
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16
“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you any ways in which you’ve been using your time unwisely.
Know that he is not a God who takes away all the things you enjoy.
He’s not anti-entertainment, friends, and parties.
He’s a fun God who truly loves you.
Don’t mix religion and the heart of your heavenly Father.
Trust that whatever he leads you to change will result in the absolute most fun, fruitful, and satisfying way you can live.
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” James 4:13-15
3. Ask God to help you spend your time wisely today. Ask him to help you follow his direction as you go about the day set before you.
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” John 16:7
You can trust that God has the absolute best plan for your time.
Matthew 6:8 promises, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
He has every one of your needs sorted out.
He will provide for you perfectly.
We can trust him with our complete life, we can know our jobs, family’s, and circumstances are better in the capable, loving hands of our heavenly Father.
Pray today we can choose to devote our time, job, money, and relationships to Him who is our Savior Jesus that they might be filled with the blessing of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, 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). 