Day 5 Living Life For God’s Purposes
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is Ephesians 5:15-17 (NIV)
In this paragraph Paul makes two assumptions; first, that Christians are wise, and second, that Christian wisdom is practical wisdom, that it teaches us how to live. His word for ‘live’ throughout the letter has been the Hebrew concept of seeing our life as our ‘walk.’ It has already been noted that our Christian life must no longer be according to the world, the flesh and the devil (2:1-3) or like those outside of Christ (4:17). It must be ‘worthy’ of God’s call (4:1), in ‘love’ (5:2) and as ‘children of light’ (5:8). Now he adds a more general exhortation to us to behave like the wise people he credits us with being.
‘Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise’ (5:15). Wisdom has been given to them (1:8) and they can pray in all circumstances for the spirit of wisdom (1:17). So their lives need to display the wisdom of God (3:10). As the context shows, and as Paul puts in the parallel in Colossians 4:5 (‘Be wise in the way you act to outsiders’), his thinking is very much directed to their way of life before the non-Christian world.
In the rest of the passage Paul specifically outlines two marks of wise people. First, wise people make the most of their time (‘making the most of every opportunity’ [5:16]). The verb translated by ‘make the most of’ literally meant ‘to redeem or buy back,’ and if used in this way, the call is ‘ransom the time from its evil bondage.’ Paul adds the Greek prefix ex before the verb, adding to its intensity (‘Use … to the full’ [NEB]). So the verse carries the thought to ‘buy up’ the time, to make the most of it. ‘Time’ is kairos and so not just the space of time that each day offers (otherwise Paul would have used chronos) i.e. make use of every opportunity (and not just every second and minute of every day). Paul’s reminder that ‘the days are evil’ (5:16) emphasises the danger of misusing time and opportunity. Paul’s thought here might be that the days are under God’s judgement and for this reason, the time is short (1 Corinthians 7:29) and each opportunity needs to be taken before it is too late. Did Paul see the old order tottering to its doom under the weight of its own corruption?
If the first mark of wise people is that they make the most of their time, the second is that wise people discern the will of God. They know wisdom is found in God’s will and nowhere else. ‘Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is’ (5:17). This is an implicit repeating of 5:10 ‘and find out what pleases the Lord.’ God wants everyone to know His will (Acts 22:14). This is the most important knowledge you or I can ever know. Knowing, understanding and doing the will of God must be the highest priority for a Christian. We need to distinguish between God’s ‘general’ will and ‘specific’ will. His ‘general’ will takes this name because it relates to the general will of God for all of us. This doesn’t vary from person to person. God’s ‘particular’ will does vary from person to person and might include areas like: what career path to follow, who to marry, what ministries to support and how much to give. God’s ‘general’ will is found in Scripture but not His ‘particular’ will. We have the general principles of Scripture to guide us but detailed decisions have to made after careful thought and prayer, and often following advice from mature and experienced believers as well.
Don’t live foolishly as those with no understanding, but live honourably with true wisdom, for we are living in evil times. Take full advantage of every day as you spend your life for his purposes. And then you will have discernment to fully understand God’s will Ephesians 5:15-17 (The Passion Translation)