PT-1 "The Believer's Life Principles" (Eph. 5:15)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/18/2019 8:44 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                   Focus:  PT-1 “The Believer’s Life Principles”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 5:15

 

            Message of the verse:  “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise” (Eph. 5:15).

 

            As we look at this verse we should know that the literal meaning of the Greek term that is translated “be” is “look, or observe,” and so that means that Paul’s command for believers  is to see that they “walk” carefully is based on what he just had been teaching. We can see this also from the word “therefore” which begins verse fifteen.  Therefore refers immediately back to the apostle’s call for believers to walk as those who have been raised from the dead and for those who are living in Christ’s light as seen in verse 14.  “14 For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.’”  John MacArthur writes “It also reaches even further back to build upon his call for believers to be imitators of their heavenly Father (5:1).  Christians are to walk wisely rather than unwisely because they are God’s beloved children, saved through the sacrifice of His beloved Son (5:1-2).  Only the wise walk befits the children of God.”

 

            We see in our verse that as believers we are to walk as wise men.  This can be better understood by looking at the many times we see the words “in Christ” in the letter to the Ephesians, and so since we are in Christ we should correspond to what we are, and that includes the truth that we are one, we are separated, we are love, we are light and we are wise.

 

            We mentioned in our last SD about the truth that once we are born into the family of God and become His child that we are made wise.  2 Timothy 3:15 tells us “and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”  MacArthur adds “By God’s grace, the saved ‘are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption’ (1 Cor. 1:30).  Just as in Christ God miraculously makes us immediately righteous, sanctified, and redeemed, He also makes us immediately wise.”  Let me give you an example from this wisdom that God has given to me, something that is one of my favorite things to write about and that is evolution.  My 7^th grade Biology teacher, Mrs. Mack, taught some things about evolution that at the time made sense to me, and for one thing I decided that I did not need to attend church anymore because evolution teaches that we are an accident and that there is no God.  After I became a believer I knew that evolution is a lie and impossible to happen, so impossible that not even God could make evolution happen.  You may say that God can do anything, and the truth is that God can do anything as long as it goes along with His attributes, and evolution does not fit into His attributes so that makes it impossible for God to make it work.  The point is that because of God’s wisdom given to me I see things now in a much different light, in God’s light.

 

            Now because when we were saved and receive wisdom we are responsibility for our behavior.  MacArthur adds “Because we are in Christ, ‘the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ that are hidden in Him (Col. 2:3) are therefore also hidden in us.  John wrote of the Holy Spirit, the resident truth teacher is in the life of every saint:  ‘But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.  I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it’ (John 2:20-21).  Further, he said, ‘You have no need for anyone [any human teacher with simply human wisdom] to teach you,’ because ‘His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true’ (v. 27).  We cannot have salvation without God’s wisdom any more that we can have salvation without his righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Make sure that I walk in the wisdom that God has given to me as is evident in the passages we have been looking at.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Walking in wisdom means to be walking in humility.

 

Today’s verse that goes along with yesterday’s quote from Gordon Lindsay:  “Lord I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

 

6/18/2019 9:17 AM