Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father show us His desires and designs so that we can embrace them and obey them! Father, tell us what you want. Call us to your Word so that we can learn more about your Will. Call us, by prayer, into your presence, so that we can get closer to you. We so easily and so often, daily make you smaller than you are, Father. We neglect you with a terrifying ease. In Jesus's name, and by the Holy Spirit He sent to guide us and connect us to Him by your side, wake us up to how big you are. Wake us up to your Will, Father. Amen, amen, amen.
Your Morning Song: "Cornerstone" by TobyMac ft. Zach Williams
Your Morning Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-17
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish but understand what the Lord’s will is.
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Careful. Wise. Understanding.
If you are reading this, then you are likely already living in the way that Paul is encouraging the Christians in Ephesus to live. You live your days with mindful care. You live wisely, not based on what you know per se, but more how you make use of what you know. You make the most of every opportunity to please God in a world broken by the evil of sin. And when you do not, you simply turn away from your failure, back to God, and get a good foot-washing. You do not trust yourself, but you deny yourself and guard you heart by obeying God's Will over your own.
Wonderful. Now what?
Have you considered how you can encourage others to live this way? There is very likely someone you know, someone who you have some degree of relationship with, that needs help with this. Perhaps they are saved and sincere, but not careful in how they live. Not wise. Wasting opportunities. And foolishly giving little thought to God's Will. Perhaps even simply claiming that God's Will is a mystery.
How can you help? Well, if you are already living out Paul's exhortation to the Ephesians then you already are helping. You are living wisely, and understanding God's Will and obeying it. Your own daily living, your own reputation, your own character on display through your Christ-like conduct is the greatest help you can give to brothers and sisters who are struggling to do the same.
Now, out that good example, invite them to join you. Invite them over for dinner and simply love them. Take them out for coffee and pour them a cup as you pour God's love onto them. Pray for them, with them. If they're up for reading the Bible together, do that! But if not, be patient, and wait with them in the small talk, in the life talk, wherever they might be for now. If you earn the right to speak plainly with them about their immaturity, then you can speak. But only if you have earned it. And only if the Spirit guides you to do so.
Let your whole life be an obedient, contented example to them, grounded in God's Will. Love them gently and graciously with your whole life (not just on Sunday mornings), with love grounded in God's Will.
And do not compromise God's Will. Know yourself. The cop-out of "we could all do better" does not apply in nearly as many situations as we would like it to. If you are not living out Paul's commands to the Ephesians as you should, then do not try yet, in your foolishness, to help others to obey a scripture you yourself are not yet obeying. You are, or you are not.
No matter where any of us fit into this conversation, we should come before God in prayer and ask Him what He wants us to do. We should read His word, mindful of how aware of His Will we are. God's Will is not meant to confusing, or vague. It is meant to be clear. And what a wonderful grace it is that if God's Will is not clear to us, then we can go to His Word, and look for it. We can go to Him in prayer and ask Him to tell us.
Let us be a people who live wisely, with care, making the most of our God-given opportunities in an evil world that rejects God's Will. May we know His Will and embrace it with our whole life.
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