Ephesians 5:15-20 – Making Wise Decisions
By Pastor Paul Georgulis
“15 So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. 16 Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. 17 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. 18 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. 20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Ephesians 5:15-20 (New Living Translation)
People often complain that they don’t have enough time to do everything they need to do in a day, week, month, or year. I’m guilty of this as well and have jokingly said, “I’m trying to figure out a way to add more hours to a day and more days to a week.” The truth of the matter is that every person is given the same twenty-four hours every day. The difference is in how we choose to use our time. Here, the Apostle Paul is warning us to not waste our time doing things that are unproductive, or that are flat-out sinful. Instead, we should be looking for opportunities to do what God wants us to do every day.
Each of us has only one life, and no one knows how long we will live. We only get one chance to live each day, and unfortunately, we don’t get to add hours to days or days to weeks. Perhaps you’ve heard people talk about how they would live differently if they had another chance, or a redo. In these verses, the Apostle Paul is trying to help us live a Spirit-filled, godly life now – so we don’t have to get to the point where we wish we could go back and do things differently.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit leads to worship (verse 19) and to giving thanks for everything (verse 20). Do you find yourself stressed about not being able to get everything done? If so, this leads to not being able to devote time to our relationships with God – rendering us unable to truly worship and focus on being thankful. So, the next time you find yourself stressed – because let’s face it, it will happen – take some time to slow down, breathe, and connect with God in worship. If you do that, I promise you that He will alleviate your stress, give you the answers you are seeking, grow you closer to Him, and allow you to live a more thankful life.
Prayer:
Father, we thank you that we can come to you when we are stressed out and burned out due to the things with which we have allowed to fill our lives. Help us to focus more on the main thing that should fill our lives – worshiping you and growing closer to you. Fill us more with your Holy Spirit so that there’s no room in us for the other unwise things.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!
