I was doing my devotions and I read the strangest verse. Ephesians 5:12 says “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise.” What the heck does that mean, I thought. So I went to my trusty Biblehub.com and looked it up. What I found was very interesting. The word “look” means “to see something physical with spiritual results.” It carries what is seen into the unseen realm so a person can take the needed action. And the “walk” in the verse is “how one conducts life, literally walk around or complete a circuit.” If you add the following few verses, you have a very powerful instruction/warning from God on how to live in these evil days.
In fact, if you look at verses 15 & 16 there is a comma connecting the two into one full sentence. Verse 16 says “making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”
Making the best use means “to ransom, to buy up for oneself.” In this verse, it seems to have a slightly different meaning than that. It connects the idea of ransom and buying for yourself from the store. It means to make a wise and sacred use of every opportunity for doing good so that zeal and well-doing is the purchase – money by which we make the time our own.
We are to live buying time with zeal and well-doing. Wow, that changes how I spend my day!
If we put together both of these thoughts, it is a powerful catalyst to change how we do our day to day life. We are to be watching; seeing things in the physical but applying the spiritual to them; being led by the spirit in how we act and react in all situations we encounter through the day. We are to literally buy back time by living with such a zeal for the Lord that we are consumed with His well-doing. And we are to do this because the days are evil.
I have no idea when Jesus is coming back. And I have no desire to debate those prophecies. But I do have a rising desire to live more alert to the fact that the days are evil and the time is getting shorter to tell others of the love of Jesus.
I find myself with a stirring I can’t explain and one I never thought I would be excited to have. End times stuff scares me if I’m being honest. But suddenly fear is overcome with love for those who are hurting and lost.
Every day we hear of some tragic event on the news – people being killed in senseless acts of evil here in our own towns and all over the world. But there is good news that is never told. Yes! Indeed, the days are evil. But God promises to pour out His spirit in these times like never before. That zeal that we are supposed to have that comes from looking as we walk through this life is real. It is possible to hear bad, scary news, and then make the most of the time we have living full of zeal for God and His well-doing. It is an amazing thing when you surrender your life to God and live the way He says to in scripture.
Life is amazing when you look not before you walk but as you walk. God will open your eyes to see people to pray for, love on, and tell them the good news.
