Ephesians 5:15-17 (NIV) 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.

One of the things that a lot of believers do not think about is how they are living their lives. What I mean is that even though Christians generally stay away from what we all consider to be big sins, many are careless in a lot of other areas. The scripture passage above admonishes us to be careful about how we live. That includes how we speak, how we react to different situations, what we look at, what we listen to, what we do, where we go and what attitudes we choose to display during each day. Most people just live and react and interact according to whatever happens without thinking about being careful. For example, if you are standing in line at a supermarket check-out or anywhere else and someone cuts in front of you, would you just react or would you be careful about what you will do next because you are living with the awareness that you are representing Christ Jesus wherever you go?

A lot of Christians react and then are sorry later. Some are not even sorry later and take it as just a part of living on this earth. But according to the Word of God, we need to not only be careful, but to be very careful. The next admonishment is to make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. If we just live like everyone else and react like everyone else does to life’s annoying situations that happen regularly, then we will miss out on many opportunities to exhibit the love of God and the rest of the fruit of the Spirit, which include kindness and gentleness. Instead of perhaps having the opportunity to share the gospel with someone, we may have to slink out of the supermarket or wherever we weren’t being careful because we lost control and lost our ability to be a witness for Christ for a moment. Maybe there was someone there that needed to see a different response that the one that everyone generally sees in touchy situations. If you do it right, someone might get curious as to why you responded so differently than how most people respond, thereby giving you an opportunity to share the good news of the gospel. You can tell them that you responded differently because Jesus has changed you from the inside out and you are not that miserable person that you used to be. It won’t be a missed opportunity. These opportunities have high stakes because it could make the difference between someone coming to know Jesus or not.

The last admonishment from the passage of scripture today is for us to not be foolish, but to understand what the will of God is. We all know that it is God’s will that we live godly lives and become more like Jesus. It’s called being transformed and the Lord expects to see good fruit in our lives when we are following Jesus. The question becomes, are we, or are we just going through the motions? Let’s answer that question by being very careful and by relying on the Holy Spirit to help us do as Jesus would do in every situation so that we will not miss out on even one opportunity to shine for Jesus!

Pastor Joey Vazquez