Walk as children of light: proving what is acceptable unto the Lord– Ephesians 5:8, 10
What criteria do you use in order to decide for or against a particular action, ambition, or way of life? Do you weigh the financial benefit, the career advancement, or perhaps the physical pleasure that any given opportunity may afford?
Paul tells us, first, to walk as children of light. In other words, our lives ought to be radically, fundamentally, unmistakably different that those who do not claim Christ as their Lord and Savior. Light is glaringly different than darkness.
We should not be asking the same questions that any one in the world would ask in our same situation. We should not be making decisions that reflect the priorities and self-seeking ways of sinful, unsaved individuals. We should not have the same goals as those who don’t have an eternal perspective.
In short, Paul says, we should be testing everything to see, not whether it is pleasing to our palate or to the world, but what is acceptable to the Lord. Is this thing in agreement with His Word? Will this draw me closer to Christ? Does this further the cause of Christ in the world, through me?
Thankfully, God has not left us in the dark regarding how to walk as children of light. We do not have to guess about what is pleasing to Christ. He has given us all we need to know about his desires and pleasures by communicating them to us in his Word.
Therefore, take his Word, discover what is acceptable to the Lord, and walk in it as a child of light.
Pastor Mike Says 